Lived Experience Groups
Our aim is to ensure that our suicide prevention work is underpinned by authentic voices of those with lived experience.
In partnership with Possability People, we have developed two Lived Experience Groups to give those with lived experience of suicide the opportunity to contribute to our work through advice, discussion and feedback.
About our Lived Experience Groups
Wellbeing Guide
We know talking about suicide and suicide prevention can bring up a lot of painful memories or feelings, especially if you have had a recent personal experience. Your safety is important to us.
If you don’t feel ready or you are unsure, we encourage you to take your time and think carefully about your decision, with the help of the Wellbeing Guide and your own personal resources and trusted people.
Thank you for your careful consideration and your interest in our work. If you have any queries, please get in touch.
If you are struggling yourself or worried about someone else then you can find crisis resources here.
Interested in applying?
Make sure you have read the Wellbeing Guide, then please fill in our brief application form.
We will continue to accept and review applications for both groups until we have a selection of people with diverse backgrounds and experiences.
We will review your comments against the diverse group we need.
If you would like to speak to someone, you can email us by clicking here
Frequently Asked Questions
A lived experience group is a gathering of individuals who have personally experienced specific challenges or situations. In this case, the experience will be around suicide.
This is different to the expertise that comes from ‘learnt experience’, such as through professional training.
We ask you to reflect carefully before making the decision to apply to one of these groups. We have a number of questions you can ask yourself or discuss with a trusted person in our Wellbeing Guide, as well as some inidcators that you might be ready to join.
You may withdraw your application at any time.
We hope that you will gain a lot from being a member, including:
- The opportunity to shape and influence local and national suicide prevention efforts
- Updates on the impact your insights are having on the community
- Opportunities to help advise and share insights on wider groups
- A small remuneration for your time (Advisory Group)
- Free places on Grassroots Suicide Prevention training courses
- Work alongside peers with lived experience who share your passion to help make a difference
Once we receive your application, we will review it and see how you could help us create two diverse groups. We may suggest that you join a different group than the one you applied for, but you are under no obligation to join either one.
For the Advisory Group, we will set up a brief chat with you. This will be an opportunity for you ask us any questions and decide whether it is a good fit for you.
We will keep you updated about the status of your application.
Both groups will start with a limited number of members due to practical considerations.
With the Advisory Group, we will be looking to try and find people who have a diverse range of experiences and want to focus on constructive discussions around suicide prevention work.
For the Advisory Group, we ask you to commit to one online meeting every month for 1.5 hours for a minimum of six months. In addition, there will be three preliminary sessions to attend. This group has a more formal schedule that we expect to be followed.
For the Feedback Group, we ask you to provide input on an ad hoc basis and you can choose whether you are able to participate given the project and deadlines.
Yes. For safety reasons, we will only accept applications from people over eighteen. You are welcome to return and apply once you are of age.
The Advisory Group is for members to draw upon their personal lived experience to provide constructive feedback and ideas, which will inform and influence the work of Grassroots Suicide Prevention. This group will inform policy and practice at local and national levels. We hope that this will help us to bring about positive change for others at risk.
The Feedback Group will be a wider range of people and experiences, providing feedback and input on the various campaigns, resources and projects that Grassroots Suicide Prevention are working on and developing.