In February this year, Beacon Strategies Director, Elliot Parkinson attended a Financial Inclusion conference and presented on the regional barriers to financial inclusion and health. The contents of this presentation have now been transformed into the following two-part blog series about financial inclusion and its connection to the concept of health equity.

Through the experiences and insights shared with us during a project to strengthen the responsiveness of health service to the mental health literacy needs of the community, we thought there was value in unpacking what mental health literacy is, exploring how it can be built in communities, and discussing the role of health services. 

The development of the Cairns and Hinterland SPCAP has been quite the journey. Although experiencing a number of temporary disruptions, the end result has been more than worth it. The process so far has been a rewarding one with many highlights to report…

The purpose of this meeting was to present all consultation findings that have been collected so far and present a list of activities that could potentially make it into the final Cairns and Hinterland Suicide Prevention Community Action Plan.

Through a series of face-to-face co-design sessions, we gained many insights from a range of community members’ perspectives. These insights will directly inform the development of the Suicide Prevention Community Action Plan (SP-CAP) for the Cairns and Hinterland region.

Regional planning processes aim to build a PHN’s understanding of a particular health issue. Through targeted engagement with stakeholders, regional planning enables PHNs to prioritise activities for investment. This blog offers those working in PHNs 5 things to consider prior to commencing their next regional planning process.

Find out what we have achieved in the Community Advisory Group meetings for this project so far and the approach and outcomes of the April meeting, discussing the vision, purpose, implementation and governance of the Cairns and Hinterland region Suicide Prevention Community Action Plan.

Wondering what the SPCAP CAG meetings look like? This blog explores our Community Advisory Group meeting: co-design session 1. Within this meeting, we identified issues and ideas surrounding suicide in the Cairns and Hinterland region communities. The outcomes of this meeting have detailed in this blog so be sure to check it out.

As a part of our ongoing engagement with Northern Queensland PHN to develop a Suicide Prevention Community Action Plan, we have distributed a survey that aims to engage a broader community to contribute to the development of this plan. Read this blog to find out how you can be involved.