The Mental Health Branch, NSW Ministry of Health are pleased to announce an Expression of Interest (EOI) inviting NSW Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisations (ACCHOs) to participate in the Towards Zero Suicides Building on Aboriginal Communities’ Resilience initiative.

The initiative aims to support NSW ACCHOs deliver locally designed and led, culturally appropriate social and emotional wellbeing programs and suicide prevention activities, either through enhancing existing activities or implementing new and innovative programs.

Following the successful implementation of twelve (12) ACCHO programs over 2020-2022 as part of the initiative, further funding is now available via NSW Closing the Gap to expand the initiative to a further twelve (12) ACCHOs and local Aboriginal communities. The expansion of the initiative supports the NSW Government’s commitment to the National Agreement of Closing the Gap and NSW Closing the Gap Implementation Plan, particularly:

• Target 14: Significant and sustained reduction in suicide of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people towards zero
• Outcome 14: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people enjoy high levels of social and emotional wellbeing

The initiative is part of the Towards Zero Suicides suite of initiatives in NSW contributing to the Premier’s Priority to reduce the suicide rate by 20 per cent by 2023 and is a joint partnership between the Aboriginal Health and Medical Council of NSW (AH&MRC), NSW ACCHOs, and the NSW Ministry of Health.

ACCHOs are invited to submit an EOI application in response to questions and criteria provided in the attached EOI form. Applications will be assessed against merit and local community needs by a panel comprising representatives from the AH&MRC, the Mental Health Branch, and the Centre for Aboriginal Health. Unsuccessful applications will be provided opportunities for feedback.

EOI applications close at 5.00pm Wednesday, 23 November 2022.

A virtual information session will be held via MS Teams at 1.30pm Thursday, 3 November 2022, providing organisations an opportunity to ask further questions on the EOI process and the initiative. A link to register for this information session is attached to this email.

If you have any queries or wish to discuss your application further, please contact:

Matthew Trindall

Director, Aboriginal Mental Health

Mental Health Branch

NSW Ministry of Health

Matthew.Trindall@health.nsw.gov.au

(02) 9424 5967