Suicide Prevention Digital Tool scoping project: Thompson Institute

Status: Completed March 2019

Client: University of Sunshine Coast Mind & Neuroscience – Thompson Institute

Background

The Thompson Institute based within the University of the Sunshine Coast approached Beacon Strategies to undertake a scoping activity regarding the development of a suicide prevention digital tool.

The Thompson Institute was seeking to build an application or web platform that was:

• accessible to as many people as possible (on all platforms and free)

• something that people will use and doesn’t already exist

• tailored to the Sunshine Coast (with a particular focus referral pathways)

• designed through the input of people in our community (consumers, health professionals, everyday people, carers, lived experience)

• inclusive of training and assessment functionality

• complimentary to the work of the Alliance

• scalable and potentially implemented in other regions

Approach

The specific objectives of the project were to:

• Understand the external policy environment

• Understand and leverage existing knowledge generated by the Thompson Institute

• Understand the broad range of suicide prevention-related existing applications and platforms currently on the market

• Understand and assess potential partnership arrangements with vendors to develop the application or platform

• Understand stakeholder preferences and opinions (including consumers, families, carers and sector professionals)

• Ensure that the Thompson Institute is in an informed position prior to engaging developers to commence application build

• Supply a considered brief to support application build.

---