Known as 'Community Linkers', the program is based out of the University of Wollongong's Shoalhaven campus, being created through a collaboration of the university's 'Mind the Gap' initiative and the South Coast Medical Service Aboriginal Corporation.

Community Linkers aims to reduce suicide by bridging the gap between at-risk community members and community services.

The project plans to achieve the goal by training Indigenous and non-Indigenous people and organisations that provide services to Shoalhaven's Aboriginal communities in how to recognise at-risk behaviour and help those in need to easily access support services.

Project Manager of Mind the Gap at the University of Wollongong's Shoalhaven campus, Glenn Williams said the goal of the program is to teach the community to know what signs to look for when it comes to poor mental health.

"We want to program to lead to having active people in the community who have the skills to identify when someone is struggling and to have the courage to ask them if they are okay," Mr Williams said.

"Then, if they say they are not okay, we want the community linkers to know what further questions to ask and to know how to refer them to the appropriate professionals."

The program is run through the Mind the Gap initiative through the University of Wollongong Shoalhaven campus.

Mind the Gap focuses on suicide prevention as a whole, however the new 'Community Linkers' program has a focus on Indigenous mental health and wellbeing, due to the Shoalhaven's large Aboriginal community.

Data from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare showed that suicide among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people is significantly higher than non-Indigenous Australians.

Mr Williams said it was important to have the program in the Shoalhaven due to the above average statistics of poor mental health in the area.

"We've developed programs like this to address mental health needs because we know Indigenous suicides are higher than the non-Indigenous suicides in the community," he said.

"It's a great initiative and at the heart of it are a great group of Aboriginal people who are pushing the program because the mental of health of everyone is so important."

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The program is funded through the 'Towards Zero Suicides' campaign, an initiative by the NSW Government launched in 2019 that aims to reduce the state suicide rate by 20 percent by 2023.

Community Linkers holds monthly workshops, with the training being completely free for participants and being delivered by Indigenous facilitators.

The current goal of the facilitators is to train 200 'Community Linkers' by the end of the year.

Due to COVID-19, training has the capacity to be completed online, allowing for larger accessibility for all who want to join.

Mr Williams said he is hopeful this program will continue to run in the future.

"The long term goal is to have a number of people in the community who know what to do if they notice someone struggling," he said.

"They will have the skill set to ask a few questions and then refer them to the appropriate professionals."

Ultimately, data from the Community Linkers project will be used to inform research, which will examine the effectiveness of culturally tailored suicide prevention training.

It is anticipated that the evaluation will inform future development and increase he effectiveness of suicide prevention programs for Aboriginal communities more broadly, contributing to the prevention of suicide amongst Aboriginal people.

"If they prevents suicide or reduces it in the community, then that's a good outcome," Mr Williams said.