One Framework, Many Voices: Uniting Diverse Teams in Suicide Prevention
Tracks
Springbrook Room - In-Person Only
| Wednesday, June 24, 2026 |
| 1:40 PM - 2:00 PM |
Overview
Simone Silberberg, Social Futures
Presenter
Simone Silberberg
General Manager Mental Health And Wellbeing
Social Futures Ltd
One Framework, Many Voices: Uniting Diverse Teams in Suicide Prevention
Presentation Overview
When Social Futures grew its services across regional New South Wales, we faced a big question: How could we ensure everyone on our team—from clinicians to peer workers to admin staff—felt confident and consistent in their approach to suicide prevention? We needed a way to bring all our different roles together with a shared language and purpose.
We chose the SafeSide Suicide Prevention Framework because it was created with input from people with lived experience and backed by strong evidence. It also helped us connect with local health partners who were using the same framework, making it easier to work together and support people seamlessly. Furthermore, SafeSide provides all the learning resources to train staff without the need for external facilitators. Our staff took part in interactive workshops that used real-world scenarios to build skills and confidence in suicide prevention, intervention and postvention.
The results were powerful. After the training, 96% of our staff felt confident asking someone about suicide, and 94% felt ready to create safety plans. Most importantly, nearly everyone on our team—98.7%—agreed that they have a role to play in suicide prevention.
Three years later, SafeSide is a part of how we work every day. It’s in our reporting, our clinical governance, and how we collaborate with others. Training alone does not change practice; true success comes from embedding a shared approach into the fabric of daily practice.
This presentation shares the journey of Social Futures, offering practical lessons and evaluation findings on how a single, unified framework can empower a diverse workforce. It highlights how uniting many voices under one evidence-based approach builds team confidence, enhances collaboration, and ultimately contributes to a brighter, safer future for our communities.
Three Key Learnings
1. Strategies to embed a shared approach to suicide prevention, intervention, and postvention across diverse teams.
2. Sustainable approaches to building workforce capability in suicide prevention, intervention, and postvention.
3. Using a leadership-led model to implement change.
We chose the SafeSide Suicide Prevention Framework because it was created with input from people with lived experience and backed by strong evidence. It also helped us connect with local health partners who were using the same framework, making it easier to work together and support people seamlessly. Furthermore, SafeSide provides all the learning resources to train staff without the need for external facilitators. Our staff took part in interactive workshops that used real-world scenarios to build skills and confidence in suicide prevention, intervention and postvention.
The results were powerful. After the training, 96% of our staff felt confident asking someone about suicide, and 94% felt ready to create safety plans. Most importantly, nearly everyone on our team—98.7%—agreed that they have a role to play in suicide prevention.
Three years later, SafeSide is a part of how we work every day. It’s in our reporting, our clinical governance, and how we collaborate with others. Training alone does not change practice; true success comes from embedding a shared approach into the fabric of daily practice.
This presentation shares the journey of Social Futures, offering practical lessons and evaluation findings on how a single, unified framework can empower a diverse workforce. It highlights how uniting many voices under one evidence-based approach builds team confidence, enhances collaboration, and ultimately contributes to a brighter, safer future for our communities.
Three Key Learnings
1. Strategies to embed a shared approach to suicide prevention, intervention, and postvention across diverse teams.
2. Sustainable approaches to building workforce capability in suicide prevention, intervention, and postvention.
3. Using a leadership-led model to implement change.
Biography
Simone Silberberg is a registered psychologist and the General Manager of Mental Health and Wellbeing at Social Futures. With extensive experience in managing organisaitonal change, Simone leads initiatives that strengthen mental health systems and workforce capability in suicide prevention, youth and adult mental health and substance use. She's passionate about supporting teams to deliver meaningful outcomes for communities with a strong focus on evidence-based practice in suicide prevention and peer-led initiatives. Simone brings both clinical insight and strategice leadership to her work. Simone believes that meaningul impact comes from combining evidence, compassion, collaboration and commitment to serve those in need.
