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#chatsafe

“#chatsafe”

Orygen's evidence-informed guidelines for young people on communicating safely about suicide on social media (2018), delivered through a co-designed national social media campaign in Australia and later adapted internationally.

Years
2018–now
Country
Australia
Topic
Suicide prevention
Asks people to
Seek helpTalk to someone
Strategy
Media guidelinesSelf efficacySimple instruction
Channel
InfluencerSocial (organic)Social (paid)
Audience
Young adultsYouth

Evidence

ObservationalPositive

Co-design study (Thorn et al. 2020): 134 young people in 11 workshops; 88.5% found them safe and reported feeling better equipped to communicate safely online. A pilot without control group was positive; a registered RCT (ACTRN12622001397707, n=400) was due to complete in 2024, results not yet located. Safe messaging: the campaign is itself safe-messaging guidance for peers on social media. Two uncontrolled pre/post studies: 189 young people aged 16-25 over a 12-week social-media campaign reported more willingness to intervene and more self-efficacy and safety when talking about suicide online (La Sala 2021); 266 suicide-exposed young people in a 6-week postvention version showed similar gains with no sign of harm (La Sala 2023).

Sponsor (who paid)

  • Orygen (Centre for Youth Mental Health, University of Melbourne) Academic, creator

Credits (who made it)

  • Jo Robinson Research evaluation, 2018- source

Related campaigns

Sources

  1. Thorn P et al. Developing a suicide prevention social media campaign with young people (the #chatsafe project): co-design approach. JMIR Ment Health 2020;7(5):e17520 evaluation · 2020 · DOI 10.2196/17520 · PMID 32391800
  2. Robinson J et al. Testing the impact of the #chatsafe intervention on young people's ability to communicate safely about suicide on social media: protocol for a randomized controlled trial. JMIR Res Protoc 2023;12:e44300 evaluation · 2023 · DOI 10.2196/44300 · PMID 36800220
  3. La Sala L et al. Can a social media intervention improve online communication about suicide? A feasibility study examining the acceptability and potential impact of the #chatsafe campaign. PLoS One 2021 evaluation · 2021 · DOI 10.1371/journal.pone.0253278 · PMID 34129610
  4. La Sala L et al. Acceptability and Potential Impact of the #chatsafe Suicide Postvention Response Among Young People Who Have Been Exposed to Suicide: Pilot Study. JMIR Hum Factors 2023 evaluation · 2023 · DOI 10.2196/44535 · PMID 37204854

Research notes

Credits checked 2026-10-22 against fetched pages: Jo Robinson (PubMed record of the #chatsafe RCT protocol, 2023, Robinson J first author, Orygen). Find RCT results (expected 2024-2025) and upgrade. The design studio Portable (Collingwood, VIC) is an author affiliation on the 2020 co-design paper (PubMed 32391800), but no page states its role, so no credit is added. Evidence updated 2026-10-22: level process -> observational and outcome unknown -> positive on La Sala 2021 and 2023 (pre/post outcome data, no control group, self-reported). The RCT result would supersede these.

Record cases/chatsafe.json, updated 2026-10-22· Link to this campaign