Content warning: This article discusses depression and suicide. If this content raises concerns for you or someone you know, support is available. Contact Lifeline on 13 11 14 or 13YARN on 13 92 76. Call 000 in an emergency.
WA Primary Health Alliance’s (WAPHA) multi-award-winning depression awareness campaign, Depression starts small, was designed to reduce stigma associated with depression and suicidality, raise awareness of the early signs of depression and increase help seeking behaviour.
The campaign depicts a young man followed by a small black puppy, subtly interrupting his everyday routine, and it seeks to target both men and youth in areas identified by WAPHA as suicide prevention focus locations.
It was developed through research and in consultation with mental health professionals and consumers, ensuring the perspective of lived experience was prioritised.
It is widely evidenced that men are overrepresented in suicide statistics and that they are one of the most unlikely population groups to seek help. 1,2
The early signs of depression may not be the ones most people think of immediately and the campaign raises awareness of these lessor known signs, such as loss of interest in hobbies, decreased appetite, not responding to calls from friends and sleeplessness.
The storyline ends in a sense of hope when the actor acknowledges these signs and the realization that he can seek help early to prevent them from progressing. Help seeking information is displayed at the end of the advert and across the website associated with the campaign.
The purpose of the campaign is to raise awareness of:
- The early signs of depression,
- That depression can affect anyone,
- Depression can be treated, and
- How to seek help.
It is known that implementing a stand-alone suicide prevention activity within a community does not reduce suicides.3,4 However, when incorporated into a multi-faceted systems-based approach that is recognised as best practice within suicide prevention – activities such as awareness campaigns add to a synergistic effect that has been evidenced to reduce suicides.3,4
WAPHA has committed to a systems-based approach when implementing suicide prevention activities within focus locations and this depression awareness campaign is just one of those activities. Examples of other activities implemented concurrently to aid the synergistic effect have been GP and primary mental health care professional depression management courses, community suicide prevention training, peer support group enablement, an Aftercare Services Program and self-help community grants.
WAPHA’s Suicide Prevention Lead, Jacqui Jennigs said there is a common myth that raising awareness or simply talking of depression, mental ill health and/or suicidality can cause a person to want to act on or cause feelings of suicidality.
“However, the evidence shows that when a campaign has been designed responsibly within media and language guidelines, it has a positive effect on awareness raising, help seeking and stigma reduction.5,6
It is also evidenced that approaches such as providing help-seeking information in combination with restricting access to suicide means, are effective in reducing suicides at known ‘suicide hotspots’; mitigating the myth that providing suicide prevention information or awareness raising does not in fact cause a person to act on their suicidal ideations at high-risk locations.7
“In addition, safe talking about mental health and suicidality has also been proven not to increase the risk of a person acting on their ideation. In fact, asking a person if they are having suicidal thoughts is more likely to help relieve their distress.8” Jacqui said.
“It would be great if we became just as comfortable communicating and learning about depression, mental ill health and suicidality as we are about physical health conditions.
“Enabling suicidality to remain a taboo subject and burying our heads in the sand is not an effective suicide prevention strategy.”
If you or someone you know needs urgent support, contact Lifeline on 13 11 14 or 13YARN on 13 92 76. Call 000 in an emergency
References:
- Australian Government. Australia Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW). Suicide and self-harm monitoring. Updated 2026, Mar 23. Suicide deaths – Suicide & self-harm monitoring – AIHW
- Pirkis J, Macdonald J, English DR. Introducing Ten to Men, the Australian longitudinal study on male health. BMC Public Health. 2016;16(Suppl 3):1044. Published 2016 Oct 31. doi:10.1186/s12889-016-3697-2
- KPMG. Department of Health and Aged Care. Analysis of Suicide Prevention Trials Evaluation Findings: Discussion Paper. Published 2022 Sept. Analysis of Suicide Prevention Trials Evaluation Findings – Discussion Paper | Australian Government Department of Health, Disability and Ageing
- Hegerl U, Althaus D, Schmidtke A, & Niklewski G. The alliance against depression: 2-year evaluation of a community-based intervention to reduce suicidality. Psychological medicine, 2006; 36(9), 1225–1233. https://doi.org/10.1017/S003329170600780X
- Pirkis, J., Rossetto, A., Nicholas, A., Ftanou, M., Robinson, J., & Reavley, N. (2019). Suicide Prevention Media Campaigns: A Systematic Literature Review. Health Communication, 34(4), 402–414. https://doi.org/10.1080/10410236.2017.1405484
- Torok, M., Calear, A., Shand, F. and Christensen, H. (2017), A Systematic Review of Mass Media Campaigns for Suicide Prevention: Understanding Their Efficacy and the Mechanisms Needed for Successful Behavioral and Literacy Change. Suicide Life Threat Behav, 47: 672-687. https://doi.org/10.1111/sltb.12324
- Too LS, Shin S, Taouk Y, et al. Impact of interventions at frequently used suicide locations on occurrence of suicides at other sites: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Psychol Med. 2025;55:e168. Published 2025 Jun 24. doi:10.1017/S0033291725100792
- Jorm A, Kitchener B. How to ask someone you’re worried about if they’re thinking of suicide. The Conversation. Published 2018, Jul 25. How to ask someone you’re worried about if they’re thinking of suicide