People in rural areas face higher suicide risks and fewer services. The Community Owned Response to Eliminating Suicide (CORES™) program was developed in Tasmania in 2003 after a cluster of 10 suicides in a small rural community within three years. Now delivered across all Australian states and territories, CORES aims to equip individuals with the skills and confidence to identify and respond to suicide risk. Using a Train-the-Trainer model, local facilitators are trained to deliver sessions tailored to their communities with strong community and lived experience support.
This presentation shares findings from the latest evaluation of CORES in two rural Tasmanian networks. A mixed methods study, including surveys (n=180) and interviews/focus groups (n=18), explored participants’ reasons for engaging, what they learned, and how they applied the training.
Key learnings include:
• Skills make a difference: Training improved participants’ understanding of suicide risk, safety planning, and offering support. Many felt more confident in encouraging help-seeking behaviour and responding to distress.
• Local ownership and flexibility: The Train-the-Trainer model enabled communities to adapt the training to local needs while promoting cultural relevance and lived experience contributions.
• Connection builds resilience: CORES reduced stigma, challenged assumptions, and fostered trust. The CORES networks support a culture of openness, connection, and shared responsibility, vital for suicide prevention in rural settings.
CORES continues to expand in Tasmania and beyond, demonstrating the effectiveness of empowering rural communities to lead suicide prevention. By leveraging local knowledge, lived experience, and community networks, CORES shows that grassroots, sustainable solutions can create lasting cultures of care, connection, and hope. ‘The answer to reducing suicide in rural and regional areas is to come back to it takes a community to raise a child and a community to support an adult. The power of community’.

People in rural areas face higher suicide risks and fewer services. The Community Owned Response to Eliminating Suicide (CORES™) program was developed in Tasmania in 2003 after a cluster of 10 suicides in a small rural community within three years. Now delivered across all Australian states and territories, CORES aims to equip individuals with the skills and confidence to identify and respond to suicide risk. Using a Train-the-Trainer model, local facilitators are trained to deliver sessions tailored to their communities with strong community and lived experience support.
This presentation shares findings from the latest evaluation of CORES in two rural Tasmanian networks. A mixed methods study, including surveys (n=180) and interviews/focus groups (n=18), explored participants’ reasons for engaging, what they learned, and how they applied the training.

Key learnings include:

• Skills make a difference: Training improved participants’ understanding of suicide risk, safety planning, and offering support. Many felt more confident in encouraging help-seeking behaviour and responding to distress.
• Local ownership and flexibility: The Train-the-Trainer model enabled communities to adapt the training to local needs while promoting cultural relevance and lived experience contributions.
• Connection builds resilience: CORES reduced stigma, challenged assumptions, and fostered trust. The CORES networks support a culture of openness, connection, and shared responsibility, vital for suicide prevention in rural settings.

CORES continues to expand in Tasmania and beyond, demonstrating the effectiveness of empowering rural communities to lead suicide prevention. By leveraging local knowledge, lived experience, and community networks, CORES shows that grassroots, sustainable solutions can create lasting cultures of care, connection, and hope. ‘The answer to reducing suicide in rural and regional areas is to come back to it takes a community to raise a child and a community to support an adult. The power of community’.