A Community Postvention Response to Regional Youth Suicide
Tracks
Grand Ballroom 3 - In-Person Only
| Thursday, November 6, 2025 |
| 1:35 PM - 1:55 PM |
Overview
Kristy Steenhuis, Standby Support After Suicide & Divanshu Kashyap, Wellways
Presenter
Mr Divanshu Kashyap
Program Coordinator - Standby
Wellways
A Community Postvention Response to Regional Youth Suicide
Presentation Overview
A Community Postvention Response addressed a devastating surge in youth suicides through a compassionate, culturally appropriate, and highly coordinated multi-agency effort, centered on collaboration, proactive outreach, and ensuring immediate, compassionate, and culturally appropriate wraparound support is provided to families, friends, schools, and the broader community impacted by each loss.
A dedicated leadership team was established, uniting mental health services, education bodies, police, and community organizations to guide the response and ensure a structured, timely approach.
Key actions included mapping impacted groups — such as families, friends, schools, workplaces, and sporting clubs and providing targeted support to those most affected.
Comprehensive data collection on demographics and interconnections between cases informed tailored interventions, fostering greater community resilience and shaping a sustainable framework for recovery, prevention, and future crisis management.
To combat service accessibility challenges, a website was developed as a centralized resource hub, complemented by media campaigns aimed at raising awareness and encouraging help-seeking behaviors.
The initiative also addressed the unsafe media narratives from the local media organization's by engaging with Stigma Watch, reporting their posts on social media and advocating for responsible reporting practices.
Proactive engagement with young people is critical, offering safe spaces for connection, expression, and healing, while implementing prevention strategies to reduce further risk. Simultaneously, ongoing education, capacity-building, and community resilience initiatives create a long-term framework for recovery and prevention.
The key to managing such a complex and sensitive crisis lies in fostering collective responsibility, amplifying the voices of those with lived experience, and ensuring the community is supported with compassion, structure, and hope at every stage.
A dedicated leadership team was established, uniting mental health services, education bodies, police, and community organizations to guide the response and ensure a structured, timely approach.
Key actions included mapping impacted groups — such as families, friends, schools, workplaces, and sporting clubs and providing targeted support to those most affected.
Comprehensive data collection on demographics and interconnections between cases informed tailored interventions, fostering greater community resilience and shaping a sustainable framework for recovery, prevention, and future crisis management.
To combat service accessibility challenges, a website was developed as a centralized resource hub, complemented by media campaigns aimed at raising awareness and encouraging help-seeking behaviors.
The initiative also addressed the unsafe media narratives from the local media organization's by engaging with Stigma Watch, reporting their posts on social media and advocating for responsible reporting practices.
Proactive engagement with young people is critical, offering safe spaces for connection, expression, and healing, while implementing prevention strategies to reduce further risk. Simultaneously, ongoing education, capacity-building, and community resilience initiatives create a long-term framework for recovery and prevention.
The key to managing such a complex and sensitive crisis lies in fostering collective responsibility, amplifying the voices of those with lived experience, and ensuring the community is supported with compassion, structure, and hope at every stage.
Biography
Program Coordinator, StandBy Support After Suicide (Western Victoria) – Wellways
Div is the Program Coordinator for StandBy Support After Suicide in Western Victoria, delivered by Wellways. In this role, he supports individuals, families, and communities bereaved or impacted by suicide loss, ensuring that no one walks alone through their grief.
Div leads the activation of the Postvention Response Protocol in West VIC, coordinating with key stakeholders including Victoria Police, Western Victoria Primary Health Network, the Department of Education, headspace, and local health and community services to provide a timely, compassionate, and structured postvention response.
His work extends beyond immediate crisis intervention — families are offered up to two years of tailored follow-up, with StandBy walking beside them throughout their recovery journey.
With a professional background as both a lawyer and social worker and holding a Master of Social Work (Qualifying) degree from Federation University, Australia, Div brings a unique blend of advocacy, systems thinking, and person-centred care to his role. His passion lies in strengthening rural and regional postvention responses, amplifying lived experience, and building compassionate systems that hold individuals and communities in times of deep crisis.
Kristy Steenhuis
Lived Experience Development And Advocacy Lead
Standby Support After Suicide
A Community Postvention Response to Regional Youth Suicide
Presentation Overview
A Community Postvention Response addressed a devastating surge in youth suicides through a compassionate, culturally appropriate, and highly coordinated multi-agency effort, centered on collaboration, proactive outreach, and ensuring immediate, compassionate, and culturally appropriate wraparound support is provided to families, friends, schools, and the broader community impacted by each loss.
A dedicated leadership team was established, uniting mental health services, education bodies, police, and community organizations to guide the response and ensure a structured, timely approach.
Key actions included mapping impacted groups — such as families, friends, schools, workplaces, and sporting clubs and providing targeted support to those most affected.
Comprehensive data collection on demographics and interconnections between cases informed tailored interventions, fostering greater community resilience and shaping a sustainable framework for recovery, prevention, and future crisis management.
To combat service accessibility challenges, a website was developed as a centralized resource hub, complemented by media campaigns aimed at raising awareness and encouraging help-seeking behaviors.
The initiative also addressed the unsafe media narratives from the local media organization's by engaging with Stigma Watch, reporting their posts on social media and advocating for responsible reporting practices.
Proactive engagement with young people is critical, offering safe spaces for connection, expression, and healing, while implementing prevention strategies to reduce further risk. Simultaneously, ongoing education, capacity-building, and community resilience initiatives create a long-term framework for recovery and prevention.
The key to managing such a complex and sensitive crisis lies in fostering collective responsibility, amplifying the voices of those with lived experience, and ensuring the community is supported with compassion, structure, and hope at every stage.
A dedicated leadership team was established, uniting mental health services, education bodies, police, and community organizations to guide the response and ensure a structured, timely approach.
Key actions included mapping impacted groups — such as families, friends, schools, workplaces, and sporting clubs and providing targeted support to those most affected.
Comprehensive data collection on demographics and interconnections between cases informed tailored interventions, fostering greater community resilience and shaping a sustainable framework for recovery, prevention, and future crisis management.
To combat service accessibility challenges, a website was developed as a centralized resource hub, complemented by media campaigns aimed at raising awareness and encouraging help-seeking behaviors.
The initiative also addressed the unsafe media narratives from the local media organization's by engaging with Stigma Watch, reporting their posts on social media and advocating for responsible reporting practices.
Proactive engagement with young people is critical, offering safe spaces for connection, expression, and healing, while implementing prevention strategies to reduce further risk. Simultaneously, ongoing education, capacity-building, and community resilience initiatives create a long-term framework for recovery and prevention.
The key to managing such a complex and sensitive crisis lies in fostering collective responsibility, amplifying the voices of those with lived experience, and ensuring the community is supported with compassion, structure, and hope at every stage.
Biography
Kristy Steenhuis is the Lived Experience Development and Advocacy Lead for StandBy Support After Suicide, driven by her personal journey after losing her husband to suicide in 2005. Previously, she served as Regional Coordinator for Western Victoria, providing compassionate, community-based support to those affected.
With over a decade of dedication, Kristy has been instrumental in fostering safe, supportive spaces for individuals, families, and communities navigating suicide loss. Her deep expertise—both lived and professional—allows her to advocate powerfully, ensuring those bereaved receive the care, understanding, and connection they need to heal and rebuild.
