The Buoy Project

Project Details

The Buoy Project is a research collaboration that addresses the evidence gap in effective suicide prevention interventions for boys and men in Australia. The Buoy Project is a collaboration between five universities and 14 community organisations with a commitment to preventing male suicide.

From a young age, males in our society are encouraged to be stoic, brave and self-reliant. These qualities are great in many circumstances, but they can mean that if boys and men are facing tough times they may not feel comfortable talking to a mate, much less seeking professional help. If they do reach out, they sometimes find that there is a mismatch between what they want and what services provide. Together, these factors may be contributing to the high male suicide rate.

The Buoy Project is testing seven different suicide prevention interventions for boys and men via a series of randomised controlled trials (RCTs). Five of the interventions are “upstream” interventions that encourage boys and men to look out for each other and talk to a counsellor or other professional if they’re facing life’s challenges. The other two are “downstream” interventions which are all about making sure that the services available to boys and men are tailored to their needs. Once it has tested all seven interventions, the Buoy Project will bring the findings from the RCTs together to model whether the male suicide rate could be significantly reduced if these interventions were delivered at scale.

Researchers

Professor Jane Pirkis (Project Lead)
j.pirkis@unimelb.edu.au
+61 3 8344 0647

Funding

Australian National Health & Medical Research Council Million Minds Mental Health Research Grant