The National Suicide Prevention Leadership and Support Program (NSPLSP) funds a range of activities aimed at reducing suicide deaths and suicidal behaviour across the Australian population, particularly among at-risk groups. These groups include Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, men, LGBTIQA+ people, culturally and linguistically diverse people, regional and remote communities, veterans, and young people.

The NSPLSP has been operating since 2017 and has been repeatedly extended and expanded – most recently in the 2021-22 Budget, in which the Australian Government announced an additional $61.6 million to extend the program to 2025. With total funding of $114.0 million, the NSPLSP now funds 31 organisations across Australia to deliver 40 individual suicide prevention projects.

The department has engaged AHA to evaluate:

• the funded projects’ collective success at meeting their expected outcomes
• the appropriateness and efficiency of the design and delivery of the NSPLSP.

The evaluation commenced in May 2023 and will conclude in September 2025. Over this time we will:

• conduct annual interviews with all the organisations funded to deliver NSPLSP projects
• extract NSPLSP minimum dataset data on the outputs of the funded projects
• collect additional program data such as funding agreements, activity work plans, progress reports, and local evaluation reports
• review grey and peer-reviewed literature on the context in which NSPLSP activities are being delivered
• consult with sector stakeholders such as Primary Health Networks; federal, state and territory governments; the National Suicide Prevention Office; the Aboriginal community-controlled sector; and educational institutions.