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There is much to reflect upon and look forward to as we embark as we move into the second quarter of 2024. Although there is so much going on in the world, our shared commitment to preventing suicide and suicidal behaviour remains unwavering. I had the great pleasure of meeting Dr Tedros, the Director General of the World Health Organisation recently; and I took the opportunity to thank him for WHO’s support and partnership with IASP. I highlighted the important strides forward that the global community has been making in terms of tackling the decriminalisation of suicide.
During 2023, IASP undertook an organisation-wide evaluation to reflect on recent years’ activities and to inform our planning for the future. At the end of last year, we shared the key findings with all IASP Members and held consultation sessions with members from across the world in January 2024. These sessions provided an opportunity for feedback and discussion on the evaluation findings. The Board has agreed to action these recommendations and we are in the midst of developing the next five-year strategy, which will be published shortly. One of our priorities is to further develop our governance structures within the organisation and to embrace a more accessible membership model. We look forward to consulting with the members further on this in the next 2-3 months.
As for our national and international activities, in February this year, we successfully organised the Australasian Research Workshop in Auckland, New Zealand which was attended by 60 delegates (45 New Zealand and 15 international). During the two days of the workshop, we had the pleasure of hearing from experts as well as Early Career Researchers on a range of issues such as culturally responsive practices in suicide prevention, co-design, big data and AI, social media, and suicide prevention in young migrants. The workshop gave attendees the opportunity to discuss the challenges they have faced in their research and the space to collectively consider innovative solutions.
Looking forward, it is time for us to decide upon the next triennial theme for World Suicide Prevention Day for 2024-2026. So, we are keen to hear your views. As we have done in the past, we invite you to contribute to the global consultation to identify the theme for the next three years. Please consider proposing a theme!
In May 2024, we are also looking forward to hosting the 11th Asia Pacific Conference in Bangkok. Although the portal for Symposia and Workshops and Orals has closed, you can still submit Poster abstracts until 20 March 2024. Registrations are also open; please note that the early bird registrations will close on 2 May 2024.
Similarly, we are looking forward to the first IASP Pan-American Conference from 19-22 November 2024 in Minneapolis, USA, and the North American Research Workshop from 2-3 May 2024 in Toronto, Canada. I’ll be speaking at the Toronto workshop, so hopefully I’ll see some of there in May.
This is an exciting time for IASP as we work towards an inclusive organisational strategy that works for all of our members. As always, we are keen to hear your views, if there are particular issues around suicide prevention that you feel strongly about, please get in touch. And finally, watch this space for exciting updates in the months ahead!
