Everymind is a leading institute dedicated to the prevention of mental ill-health and suicide. Our team has been delivering successful mental health and suicide prevention programs for over 30 years. This case study presentation will give an overview of three national Everymind programs in which rural communities have helped drive development, providing evidence-informed and fit-for-purpose resources for diverse sectors such as small businesses, media, government, and the suicide prevention and mental health workforce. These programs are Life in Mind, Ahead for Business, and Mindframe.

These evidence-informed, national programs recognise the value of community in prevention approaches, offering rural communities opportunity to engage with the information and tools within each program, and to support and promote awareness and resilience within their own community. We will present one case-study from each program area to illustrate the ways in which rural communities and service providers can use national resources to plan and deliver work locally in mental health and suicide prevention.

The presentation will highlight the way in which Life in Mind, a knowledge exchange portal, can be used to connect rural communities to suicide prevention information, organisations, data and research. The Ahead for Business program helps rural small business owners take action on their mental health and wellbeing through personalised resources and tools tailored to their unique needs. The Our words matter and Images matter guidelines, developed as part of the Mindframe program, highlight the importance of person focused, non-stigmatising language and image use. The guidelines support rural communities to communicate safely and sensitively while also encouraging help seeking and stigma reduction.

These three programs showcase the integration of evidence-informed approaches for application in practice at the local level.