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
- How to: recruit the right people to a project
- How to: reach and engage people with lived experience of suicide
- How to: ensure people with lived experience of suicide are ready to contribute
Support the engagement of people with lived experience of suicide
- How to: communicate the meaning and value of lived experience to various stakeholders
- How to: create a safe and supportive environment
- How to: develop and maintain relationships with people with lived experience of suicide
- How to: provide ongoing capacity building for people with lived experience of suicide
- How to: support the integration of lived experience of suicide
Effectively partner with people with lived experience of suicide
- How to: adopt an approach of compassionate curiosity
- How to: ensure power is equalised and shared
- How to: create an equitable and inclusive environment
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.
- Guidelines on actively involving people with lived experience of suicide in suicide research
(VocLE project). - Resources for involving young people with lived and living experience of suicide (Orygen)
- Lived Experience Research Collective (ALIVE)
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.
