The lived experience volunteers on Leeds Mind’s Suicide Prevention Co-production project have created a podcast series with the aim of supporting staff who work with people in mental health crisis.
The series – ‘Surviving Crisis: Learning from lived experience’ – consists of five episodes, each 20-30 minutes long and covering different themes.
All the volunteers have personal connections to suicidal crisis – either from being in that position themselves or supporting someone else – and are part of the Suicide Prevention Coproduction Project funded by West Yorkshire Health and Care Partnership and facilitated by Leeds Mind, to bring the voice of lived experience into suicide prevention work.
The episodes have been developed using insight from frontline health and care staff, who were asked in advance to share their thoughts and opinions on what they would like to hear discussed.
The five episodes can be found on the Leeds Mind Spotify and on the West Yorkshire Suicide Prevention Website, with episode one taking a look at what staff might want to ask a person with experience of suicidal ideation that they feel they can’t ask in every day work.
After reading through staff’s reflections, five distinct themes for each episode emerged:
Ep 1 – ‘Is there anything that you would want to ask a person with experience of suicidal ideation, that you feel you can’t ask in your everyday work?’
Ep 2 – What ideas/tips/advice that you are advised to give out do you feel works for people in crisis most effectively?
Ep 3 – ‘Does anything worry you about having a conversation with someone who is suicidal?’
Ep 4 – ‘Barriers to accessing crisis services.’
Ep 5 – ‘Recommendations for change and our visions for the future.’
