Scott Fitzpatrick is a Research Fellow at the Centre for Mental Health Research, The Australian National University. Scott’s work is grounded in the sociology of health and illness, public health, and applied ethics. Scott’s research seeks to broaden contemporary discussion of suicide and its prevention within the fields of research, clinical, and public health practice and policy by examining the intersection between knowledge, practice, ethics, and politics.

The political and cultural struggle over language, experience, and knowledge is nowhere more evident than in suicide research and prevention. Discordance between dominant psychiatric conceptions of suicide and lived–experience narratives has long contributed to knowledge inequality. With public health promotion and education programs a key component of contemporary suicide prevention strategies, the way suicide is encountered in pedagogical contexts is important for understanding and articulating these struggles and possibilities for change. This presentation examines the concept of ‘suicide literacy’ that underpins these programs; using this as starting point for critical reflection and action.