Celebrated annually on the second Thursday of September, which
encourages Australians to connect with people who have emotional
insecurity, to address social isolation and promote community
cohesiveness.
R U OK? contributes to suicide prevention efforts by encouraging people
to invest more time in their personal relationships and building the
capacity of informal support networks – friends, family and colleagues -
to be alert to those around them,
have a conversation if they identify
signs of distress or difficulty and connect someone to appropriate
support, long before they're in crisis. We all have a role to play in
looking out for those
we care about at home, work or in our
community. Ask, 'are you OK?' Because a
conversation could change a life. Ask R U OK?
Any Day because life happens every day.
A lot can happen in a year, a month, a week. Whether it’s your friend,
family member, colleague, partner, or teammate, the people you care
about go through life’s ups and downs every day. By having regular,
meaningful conversations, you build trust
and normalise talking about what’s really going on, so when the people
in your world find themselves struggling, they know you’re someone they
can
talk to. So whilst second Thursday of
September is our National Day of Action, we encourage you to Ask R U OK?
Any Day of the year
because a conversation could change a life.
Do you know?
More than 700,000 people die by suicide worldwide each year, which is
one person every 40 seconds.
Over half (58%) of all deaths by suicide occur before the age of 50
years old.
Experiences of conflict, disaster, violence, abuse, or loss and a
sense of isolation are risk factors associated with suicidal
behaviour.
For every suicide there are more people who attempt suicide. A prior
suicide attempt is a suicide factor in the general population.