Lived experience

“A lived experience of suicide is having experienced suicidal thoughts, survived a suicide attempt, supported a loved one through suicidal crisis, or been bereaved by suicide.”

How does involving people with lived experience support implementation?

Involving people with a lived experience is a matter of social justice; people deserve a say in the approaches that are intended to help them. Involving the people and communities that will be impacted by an approach also enables implementation success.

The knowledge and experiences of people with lived experience will be invaluable and help to set and achieve desired outcomes.

“Service users, as experts by experience, should play a central role in designing the services they use."

How can I involve people with a lived experience?

Engaging people with lived experience of suicide requires thoughtful planning and genuine collaboration. It is important to consider involvement at every stage of the project, from planning through to evaluation.

The ‘how-to’ guides below were developed by Roses in the Ocean to support people and organisations to:

Effectively recruit people with lived experience of suicide

Support the engagement of people with lived experience of suicide

Effectively partner with people with lived experience of suicide

Communicate openly and transparently

Lived experience of suicide in research

Lived experience involvement in suicide prevention research can positively affect the research process. It can shape the questions asked, how data is interpreted, and increase the impact of results in policy and practice.

The resources below can support the meaningful involvement of people with lived experience in your research.

Service guidelines

Roses in the Ocean have also collaborated with Folk and 260 people with lived experience of suicide to create guidelines for key suicide prevention support services.

Aftercare service guidelines for people who have attempted suicide or experienced suicidal crisis.
Aftercare service guidelines for people who have attempted suicide or experienced suicidal crisis.
Postvention service guidelines for people impacted or bereaved by a suicide.
Postvention service guidelines for people impacted or bereaved by a suicide.
Distress Brief Support service guidelines for people in early stages of distress.
Distress Brief Support service guidelines for people in early stages of distress.