Mindframe safe communication principles

Guidance

Avoid:

• Words or images that sensationalise, glamourise or romanticise the issue.
• Words and images that stigmatise, imply blame or moral judgement, or promote harmful stereotypes.

Do:

• Use non judgemental, person first language and images which reflect people’s experiences accurately.

Mindframe’s guidelines include guidance tables can help you make safe choices about the language and images you use. More information can be found in the Mindframe resource suites Our words matter and Images matter.

Suicide: Key considerations – Consider the language and images you use

Avoid:

• Sensationalising, for example, undermining messages that suicide is preventable by framing suicide as a “crisis” or “epidemic” or prominently and repeatedly covering a story without a clear public interest reason to do so.
• Romanticising or glorifying, for instance, including images of a person who has died, suicide notes, or public memorials.
• Using terms implying suicide is the desired outcome, such as “successful suicide”.
• Stigmatising language, such as terms that imply blame or criminality, including “commit suicide”.

Mental health concerns: Key considerations – Consider the language and images you use

Avoid:

• Sensationalising, for instance, by implying people experiencing mental health concerns, especially concerns that are uncommon such as psychosis, are dangerous, violent or more likely to be criminals.
• Stereotyping or relying on cliches, for example, using negatively framed images of people experiencing mental health concerns looking distressed, vulnerable or alone.

Do:

• Use person-first, clinically accurate and neutral language that doesn’t define a person by their illness or reinforce stigma. For example, say “a person living with schizophrenia” rather than ‘labelling terms’ like “a schizophrenic” and avoid slang terms such as “psycho”.

Alcohol and other drugs: Key considerations – Consider the language and images you use

Avoid:

• Sensationalistic reporting, including overly relying on crime focused or “epidemic” framings. This can distort risk, promote fear or a sense of hopelessness, and overlook the broader social and health context.
• Glamorising portrayals, for example stories about recreational drug and alcohol use by celebrities or sporting stars, which can normalise or idealise use and downplay the associated harms.
• Stigmatising language, including using labels such as “addict” or “junkie”, or terms like “clean” and “dirty”. These can reinforce blame, increase stigma, and discourage people from seeking support.
• Harmful or stereotypical imagery, including repeated images of intoxicated people, drug use or drug paraphernalia. This can reinforce stigma and narrow public understanding of people’s experiences.

Guidance

Avoid:

• Speculation or unnecessary detail. Only include information that is necessary, accurate, and adds clear public value.
• Narrative frames that could reinforce stigma. For example, framings that imply blame or shame, or present complex issues as solely the result of individual choice.
• Sensationalised or misleading framing including in headlines, social media captions, previews, and other short formats where content may be seen without full context.
• Refer to Reporting suicide and mental ill-health: A Mindframe resource for media professionals for more detail.

Further relevant information can also be found in the quick reference guide documents:

• Mindframe for Alcohol and Other Drugs
• Mindframe: Quick reference guide for court reporting on mental illness
• Mindframe: Quick reference guide for public communication about suicide

Suicide: Key considerations – Minimise harmful detail and framing

Avoid:

• Describing suicide methods, particularly in detail or with prominent placement. This can increase the risk of imitation. If the method must be mentioned, use general terms and minimise details.
• Naming or highlighting specific public locations of a death by suicide can increase risk and should be avoided.
• Speculating about the cause of death where suicide may be suspected but not confirmed. Limit reporting to confirmed information and include only necessary details.

Mental health concerns: Key considerations – Minimise harmful detail and framing

Avoid:

• Speculation about someone experiencing a mental health diagnosis or concern. This can increase stigma, including self stigma, and contribute to discrimination.
• Unnecessary detail about a person’s mental health concerns, especially where this could position the concerns as the primary explanation for an event, when it may be insignificant or only one of multiple contributing factors.
• Framing people experiencing mental health concerns as criminal, dangerous or unpredictable. This can reinforce stigma, increase social distance, and discourage help seeking and help offering.

Alcohol and other drugs: Key considerations – Minimise harmful detail and framing

Avoid:

• Sensationalising or alarmist narratives, such as over-emphasising violence and crime, rising statistics, celebrity use, or drug seizures, can shift attention to isolated events rather than the broader social issues associated with problematic AOD use. This can divert attention away from effective responses, including treatment and evidence based policy measures.
• Framing people who use alcohol and other drugs as criminal, dangerous, or responsible for broader social harm. This can reinforce stigma, discourage help-seeking and overlook the broader social, economic and health factors that can influence use.
• Focusing on alcohol and other drug use as the defining feature of a person or event can distort context and overstate its significance relative to other contributing factors.

Guidance

Avoid:

• Oversimplification or single‑cause explanations. Situate events within their broader context to support accurate interpretation and avoid generalisation.

Do:

• Use reliable, evidence‑based information and ensure it is presented accurately.
• Present issues as shaped by multiple contributing factors, including social and environmental influences.
• Where appropriate, include expert interpretation to support accurate understanding of statistics, trends, or complex issues.

Refer to the Mindframe core guidelines for more detail. Further relevant information can also be found in the Mindframe guidelines on media reporting of severe mental illness in the context of violence and crime, and the QRG for communicating safely about suicide and self-harm data.

Suicide: Key considerations – Provide information to help increase community knowledge

Avoid:

• Presenting suicide as the result of a single event or factor, such as relationship breakdown or financial stress. This can oversimplify causation and may normalise suicide as a response to distress, increasing the risk of imitation.

Do:

• Promote hope and prevention by including accurate, evidence based information about suicide and suicide prevention. This can address misunderstandings and increase awareness of available support and treatment.

Mental health concerns: Key considerations – Provide information to help increase community knowledge

Do:

• Where a mental health concern is relevant, provide accurate context, such as distress or barriers to treatment, to help prevent audiences from generalising from rare or atypical cases to all people experiencing mental health concerns.
• Only refer to a mental health diagnosis when it is confirmed and relevant. When referring to a diagnosis, describe it accurately and avoid speculation, assumptions or unnecessary detail. Mental health diagnoses are sensitive health information, inaccurate or unnecessary references can contribute to stigma, discrimination, and misrepresentation.

Alcohol and other drugs: Key considerations – Provide information to help increase community knowledge

Avoid:

• Reporting alcohol and other drug-related statistics without appropriate context, or in a selective or exaggerated way. This can distort public understanding, increase stigma, fear or anxiety, and undermine support for effective, evidence-based responses.

Do:

• Provide context for alcohol and other drug use, including broader social, health, and systemic influences.

Guidance

Do:

• Include lived and living experience to add context, humanise narratives and challenge stigma. Where appropriate, seek opportunities to share hopeful stories that show support is available and can help.
• Plan carefully when engaging people with lived and living experience. Use supported pathways where possible, and provide support before, during, and after participation.
• Respect the agency and authenticity of lived and living experience voices. Do not pressure people to share personal or traumatic experiences or edit their stories to fit a particular narrative.

Refer to Reporting suicide and mental ill-health: A Mindframe resource for media professionals for more detail. Further relevant information can be found in the Our stories matter guidelines and accompanying resources, as well as in Sharing our stories: How journalists and other media can support people to share their experiences of suicide.

Suicide: Key considerations – Promote stories of lived and living experience

Do:

• Take particular care when including the perspectives of people bereaved or otherwise affected by suicide. Sharing lived experience can support connection, meaning making, and help-seeking, but requires careful planning and support. Be mindful that people experiencing acute grief may feel pressure to take part and have reduced capacity to make fully informed decisions.
• Discuss the potential short and long-term impacts of sharing personal stories publicly. Once shared, stories persist online and can increase distress and affect wellbeing, relationships, and recovery for the individual and those close to them.

Guidance

Do:

• Be culturally responsive and act sensitively within communities. Respect relevant cultural practices and protocols, use appropriate terminology and recognise how content may affect individuals, families, and communities closest to the issues.
• Consider how content may be shared, amplified, or discussed, beyond first publication, including online, and the potential for loss of context or unintended harm.
• Tailor the message, messenger, and platform to the audience and purpose, considering who may be best placed to communicate your story and where the content should be shown to be most likely to achieve its intended purpose.
• Seek balance in how perspectives are represented. Consider whose voices are centred, who is shown empathy, who is blamed, and how people or groups are characterised.

Refer to the Mindframe core guidelines for more detail. Further relevant information to support you in discussing these topics in the context of priority populations, including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and CALD (Culturally and Linguistically Diverse) communities can be found group in Priority populations hub. See also the Mindframe and Black Dog Institute suite of resources for communicating about issues that can be distressing or stigmatising.

Suicide: Key considerations – Consider social and community context

Do:

• Apply particular caution when reporting the death by suicide of a celebrity or public figure. There is consistent evidence showing prominent, repeated or detailed coverage of the death by suicide of a celebrity can be followed by short‑term rises in rates of similar suicidal behaviour. This guidance applies to all public figures, whether locally well-known or internationally famous.

Guidance

Do:

• Always provide clear, accurate help‑seeking information, including at least two 24/7 support options.
• Tailor help seeking information to the topic and audience, ensuring it is relevant, accessible, and prominently featured. Where possible include a range of contact options, such as online and text based services, not only telephone support.
• For high-reach content, consider notifying relevant support services before publication so they can prepare for potential increases in demand.
• Include help‑seeking information consistently, not only in stories focused on crisis, distress or harm, but also in hopeful or recovery‑focused stories, to help normalise support‑seeking and reduce stigma.

Refer to Reporting suicide and mental ill-health: A Mindframe resource for media professionals for more detail. The Mindframe help-seeking hub hosts a curated repository of help-seeking cards tailored to specific contexts and audiences.