National Suicide Prevention Conference 2025: Building Bridges on Mental Health in CaLD Families

Yesterday was a great day.

On Tuesday, I stood beside Poster #159 at the National Suicide Prevention Conference 2025 and presented a program I’ve carried in my heart for decades: “Building Bridges: Fostering Intergenerational Dialogue on Mental Health and Suicide in CaLD Families.”

I had many conversations, but one stood out. A woman approached me slowly. She didn’t say much at first - just stood with the poster. After a pause, she whispered:

“That was my story too. We never talked about it. And we lost him.”

She wasn’t the only one. Yesterday, story after story echoed across the exhibition hall - proof that this work is needed, and overdue.

From Egypt to Australia - and Everything I Carried

I migrated to Australia from Egypt more than a decade ago. But I carried more than just a suitcase. I carried the weight of being a child carer to a mother living with mental health challenges. I carried the grief of losing her to suicide. I carried the silence of a community that didn’t have the words - or the willingness - to name what was happening.

Back then, we had no program, no language, no shared space for grief or healing. What I presented at the National Suicide Prevention Conference 2025 is the solution I wish had existed then.

The Program: Building Bridges

The Intergenerational Dialogue Program (IDP) is a six-week online initiative designed to help CaLD families talk safely and culturally about mental health, caregiving, and suicide.

It uses storytelling, lived experience, bilingual facilitation, and cultural mapping to bridge the silence between generations - especially in families from Middle Eastern, African, South Asian, and East Asian backgrounds.

Yesterday, at the National Suicide Prevention Conference 2025, I had the chance to present this model to leaders, practitioners, researchers, and peers across Australia’s suicide prevention sector. I spoke about the young carers who go unseen. The mothers and fathers who grieve in private. The families torn between tradition and truth.

And I spoke about what’s possible when we stop whispering -and start listening.

Beyond the presentation, I had the privilege of meeting some incredible people - fellow advocates, policy makers, community leaders, and suicide prevention champions.

I want to acknowledge the tireless efforts of Suicide Prevention Australia, and in particular Nieves Murray, for creating a conference where lived experience is not just welcomed, but embedded. Their leadership is helping shift the conversation from top-down to inside-out.

This year's National Suicide Prevention Conference 2025 conference reached a record-breaking 800+ registrations - a powerful signal that Australia is ready for change.

At Lived Experience Solutions (LEXs), we’re ready to take this program beyond the poster.

Our next step is to deliver a pilot of the Intergenerational Dialogue Program in partnership with funders, PHNs, multicultural organisations, and suicide prevention networks.

We’ve built the model. We’ve done the research. We’ve walked the lived experience.

Now we’re inviting collaborators who are ready to invest in community-led, culturally responsive, early intervention suicide prevention.

Based in Perth, WA, LEXs provides telehealth counselling across Australia for individuals, couples, and NDIS participants. Services extend to Social Work supervision, Peer Work supervision, training, and keynote speaking on men’s mental health, CaLD community wellbeing, and culturally responsive suicide prevention; helping people and organisations make mental-health care more compassionate, inclusive, and effective. LEXs provides services across Australia, supporting clients in Perth, Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, and beyond. To learn more about our work across Australia, visit LEXs' services page.