Suicide Lived Experience Network

Please note: we are not currently recruiting to our lived experience network. This page is for information only.

For the Leicester, Leicestershire & Rutland (LLR) lived experience network, lived experience is defined in the following way:

• People who have experienced or live with suicidal thoughts
• People who have attempted suicide
• People living with or in relationships with those who have suicidal thoughts
• Those bereaved by suicide.

The LLR Suicide and Audit Prevention Group are looking to meaningfully involve people with lived experience across the counties suicide prevention strategy and activities. By doing this they hope to amplify the voices of people with lived experience of suicide across the region and ensure people with lived experience are genuinely involved in decision making, design and development at all levels.

To do this we have set up a LLR Suicide Lived Experience Network. This will involve a group of people who have experience of suicide, who's roles will be called Experts with Experience, coming together to form a network. After completing the required training program, a range of opportunities will then be shared with the Experts with Experience that involve drawing on lived experiences to influence suicide prevention policy and practice. Opportunities will be varied, but examples may include:

• Being part of groups that contribute to, or influence, local policy and practice related to suicide prevention
• Speaking at events or conferences
• Supporting Leicester, Leicestershire, and Rutland Local Authorities to further develop the Lived Experience Network
• Supporting the delivery of local suicide prevention campaigns
• Working with organisations that have an interest in suicide prevention, to advise from a lived experience perspective

It is hoped that by including lived experience at all levels of suicide prevention activity, it will contribute to an improvement in the delivery of local services and interventions.

10 Experts with Experience have been successfully recruited to the network and were provided with training in early 2023.

The Experts are now starting to take part in opportunities. Representatives are currently supporting work developing a Start a Conversation suicide awareness eLearning module and reviewing the Start a Conversation website.

The network are looking for more opportunities to become involved with from organisations across LLR.

If you organisation has an opportunity where involving people with lived experience of suicide would be beneficial, please contact the network managers to discuss further. You can do this by emailing us.