The way back Information Resources Project

Needs and views of people who have attempted suicide and their family members and friends

Presented by: Jaelea Skehan, Hunter Institute of Mental Health,

De Beckman-Hoyle and Mic Eales, Project Working Group Members.

As a consequence of their experiences, people who have attempted suicide and their family and friends

have unique expertise and knowledge about the types of services and resources that are most

responsive to their needs.

But how often do we involve people with lived experience of suicidal behaviour in our suicide

prevention activities?

Integrating the Lived Experience

Our commitment to people with lived experience through the way back project was actioned in 3 ways:

1. Representation on Project Working Group

2. Researching and documenting the needs and views of people with lived experience

3. Directly incorporating views and experiences into written resources.

1. Project Working Group

• Staff from beyondblue, staff from HIMH, two people with lived experience

• A way of ensuring lived experience was integrated into decision making process for the project

• Protocol developed to ensure meaningful participation, support and remuneration

• One position each for an individual who has attempted suicide and a family member/friend.

Reflections on the project governance and inclusion of those with lived experience

De Blackman-Hoyle

2. Researching and documenting views

• HIMH worked with beyondblue’s blueVoices and Suicide Prevention Australia to invite community members to participate in the consultation.

• Participants needed to be over 18 years, not currently experiencing symptoms of mental distress, and the suicide attempt had to have occurred more than 12 months ago.

• Following a screening process, interviews were held with a total of 37 people of whom 22 were individuals who had attempted suicide, 9 were family members/friends and 6 fell into both categories.

• Participants had an average age of 46 years (range 19 – 79 years)

• The study had research ethics approval from HNEHRC.

Major themes

1. Suicide and suicide attempts are highly stigmatised in the community.

“the biggest and the oldest problem is the stigma attached to it.” (individual)

“People don’t know how to react… they don’t know whether or not to talk about it.” (family member)

The stigma stems from powerful societal institutions such as religions (suicide is a sin), the law (suicide as a crime), medicine (suicide as a mental illness) as well as general cultural values that praise ‘toughness’ when individuals are faced with adversity.

Major themes

• Stigma can be manifested in notions about suicide circulating in the community for example “suicide is taking the easy way out”. Participants noted that such views were destructive and wrong:

“ its actually a pretty difficult decision to make. You really can’t be that weak.” (individual)

“They don’t understand what the pain is like … it is just beyond comprehension and you’ll just do anything to escape from it … You don’t think rationally about what will happen to your family. (individual)

Major themes

2. People who are suicidal can be reluctant to disclose their feelings and seek help.

• Individuals don’t seek help because they are too ashamed and think that others won’t understand and/or cannot help:

“I was desperate to speak to someone, anyone, about how I was feeling. And I felt I couldn’t and this made it really hard.” (individual)

Major themes

• Community members rarely discuss the subject or know how to respond in supportive ways

“Its one of those unspoken subjects that needs to be brought to the fore in the community to be understood [in order that people] can provide compassion and support to those who both attempt suicide and those who have family members and friends who may be impacted.” (family member)

• Stigma can influence views of service providers

“The doctors … they were really hostile towards me … They get really pissed off because they are trying to save lives and here you are coming in after you have tried to take your own life.” (individual)

Findings: What information to provide

1. Knowing that you are not alone – hearing other people’s stories

“I felt like I was an outsider, I felt like I was the only one in the world who felt like this … but after reading other people’s stories and found out I wasn’t alone, that helped a lot.” (individual)

“When it happens to people, they do feel alone and they feel they’re the only ones and its not happened it anyone else and they don’t understand the high prevalence of it (family member)

Findings: What information to provide

2. Information about why people attempt suicide

“Its very scary for everyone in that it is such an unknown … why would they want to do that?” (family member)

3. Practical information and strategies on issues such as:

– how to how to look after yourself and others

– how to talk about what has happened

– warning signs and how to respond

– where to get help

Reflections

• Obtaining research ethics for consultations like these is important:

– Ensures ethical conduct, confidentiality, safety mechanisms

– Opportunity to publish results in peer-reviewed journals

• But, research ethics brings challenges

– Criteria will often exclude some people and their views (n=11)

– Reimbursement of lived experience not allowed under research ethics

3. Incorporating lived experience in resources

• Acknowledging the contributions of people with lived experience on the opening page.

Incorporating lived experience in resources

• Using quotes from research participants (with permission) throughout the resources.

Reflections on the consultation and what this means for suicide prevention work.

Dr Mic Eales

Conclusions

• People with lived experience of suicide attempt(s) (including family members and friends) are an important target group for suicide prevention activities.

• People with lived experience of suicide attempt(s) can and should be involved in the development and/ or delivery of suicide prevention strategies.

• We need to continue the national conversation about how best to integrate lived experience in suicide prevention strategies.

Questions?

“After my suicide attempt six years ago, I kept remembering a quote from Winston Churchill: ‘When

you are going through hell…just keep going’. This gave me great faith that somehow I would find a way out.

Which I did and I’m really enjoying life now.”