Audiology Australia develops guide for members to help patients with suicidal ideation

The guidance aims to provide best-practice recommendations of what audiologists can do to best support their clients. Image: Pressmaster/stock.adobe.com. Audiology Australia (AudA) has developed a guide to help its members best support clients with suicidal thoughts or deteriorating mental wellbeing....

Australian audiologists should familiarise themselves with and adopt Audiology Australia's new best-practice guide for responding to patients presenting with suicidal ideation or deteriorating mental health.

Hearing loss is strongly linked to depression and social isolation, meaning audiologists are well-positioned — and now formally guided — to act as a first point of contact for patients in mental health crisis.

1. 01Audiology Australia has published a best-practice guide specifically addressing patient suicidal ideation in audiology settings.
2. 02The guide targets audiologist members, equipping them to support clients with deteriorating mental health.
3. 03Hearing loss carries elevated risk of depression and social withdrawal, making mental health awareness a core clinical competency.
4. 04The resource formalises a duty-of-care pathway that was previously underdefined in audiology practice.
5. 05Relevance is primarily for Australian practitioners, though the framework may inform similar guidance globally.