Jo Robinson is an Associate Professor at Orygen, where she leads the suicide prevention research unit. Her work focuses on the development, and rigorous testing, of novel interventions that specifically target at risk youth across settings, on evidence synthesis, and on the translation of research evidence into practice and policy. It has a strong focus on the potential of social media platforms in suicide prevention. This includes the development of the #chatsafe guidelines, the first evidence-based guidelines for safe peer-peer communication about suicide online, which were recently brought to life via a national social media campaign and adapted for ten additional regions.
Examples of other current projects include the development of a multi-layered and systematic approach to youth suicide prevention across north-west Melbourne, the establishment of a self-harm monitoring program in emergency departments across Victoria, and a large-scale school-based study.
Jo has a keen interest in policy development and evaluation. She has led the development of two major policy reports and is regularly called upon to provide advice to state and federal government. Her interests include suicide, self-harm, young people, schools, emergency departments, technology, social media, suicide prevention policy and youth participation.
A group of leading researches at Orygen Australia review a recent meta-analysis on the efficacy of trigger and content warnings on media outlets that indicates warnings may not be as helpful as we thought.
Louise La Sala and Jo Robinson review a UK-wide case series study of young people who died by suicide, which explores their previous suicide-related online experiences.
Alison Clarke and Jo Robinson review a Finnish cohort study which suggests that hospital presentations for self-harm represent a clear opportunity for the identification and subsequent treatment of psychosis and bipolar disorder.
Eleanor Bailey and Jo Robinson explain that most suicide prevention interventions are developed without the involvement of people who have lived experience of suicide. They go on to make a set of recommendations for how future intervention research in suicide prevention is conducted and reported.
Sadhbh Byrne and Jo Robinson review a recent mixed methods study exploring young people’s views on harm minimisation strategies as a proxy for self-harm.