NSPA Conference Hub
With our annual conference, we bring the suicide prevention community together to share learning and good practice.
Every year, the NSPA hosts its suicide prevention conference, bringing together professionals with an interest in suicide prevention across the private, public and voluntary sector to network, learn and share. On this page we share resources and recordings from past conferences.
Previous NSPA conferences
The NSPA’s 10th annual conference took place on 31st January 2024 and marked just over 10 years since the alliance was formed. We invited all those committed to playing their part to reduce suicides, from across the public, private and voluntary sectors, to join us at The Kia Oval as we set out our vision for the NSPA and implementation of the government’s new suicide prevention strategy.
Bringing the suicide prevention community together to save lives
The event brought over 300 individuals and organisations with a professional and personal interest in suicide prevention together, to share the latest knowledge and information, explore opportunities for collaboration, engage with people who have lived experience of suicide, and hear first-hand what the government is going to do on this issue.
Plenary presentations
- National context: the latest suicide figures and the new 5-year strategy for England: Professor Sir Louis Appleby (Chair, National Suicide Prevention Strategy Advisory Group) View the slides
- Preventing suicide (from affecting us): Exclusion Culture in Mental Health Services: Dr Chloe Beale (Consultant Liaison Psychiatrist, Homerton University Hospital and Honorary Clinical Senior Lecturer, Wolfson Institute, Queen Mary University Hospital) View the slides
- Lived experience led suicide prevention in York: The importance, value and learnings from their campaign work. Emma Williams (Project Coordinator, York Ending Stigma) and Johny (Volunteer Champion, York Ending Stigma) View the slides
- Lived experience and suicide prevention: Learning from different contexts, nuances, and hopes for the future. Pete Johnson (Chair) David Breakspear (NSPA Lived Experience Influencer) Steve Gilbert (Organisational Change Consultant) Fiona Malpas (NSPA Lived Experience Influencer) Jess Worner (NSPA Lived Experience Network Manager)
- Family separation, fathers and suicide: Nav Mirza (CEO of Dads Unlimited) and Gemma Lawson (Head of Mental Health, Dads Unlimited) View the slides
Morning workshops
- Collaboratively facilitating lived experience learning spaces: Rosie Ellis (Lived Experience Network Officer) and Kate James (NSPA Lived Experience Influencer) View the slides
- Suicide Risks in high-risk high-harm perpetrators of domestic abuse in England and Wales: A cohort study: Viv Bickham (Practice Advisor, Safelives) and Luke Kendall (Practice Advisor, Drive Project, Respect UK) View the slides
- Alcohol and suicide: Insights from LGBTQ+ communities’ experiences: Eva Bell (Participation Officer, Samaritans) and Holly Wood (Policy Officer, WithYou) View the slides
- Surveillance technology for suicide prevention in public spaces: Acceptability, ethics and effectiveness: Dr Jay-Marie Mackenzie (Reader, University of Westminster) Professor Lisa Marzano (Professor of Psychology, University of Middlesex) Dr Ian Marsh (Suicide-Safer Lead, Reader and Research Supervisor Canterbury Christchurch University) Mustak Mirza, Penny Phillips and Andy Willis (NSPA Lived Experience Influencers) View the slides
- Supporting children and young people: Kearnings from UK text messaging service: Sarah Kendrick (Clinical Director, Mental Health Innovations) View the slides
Afternoon workshops
- Linking in with others: Cross-sector and community based approaches to suicide bereavement support: Michelle Stebbings (Executive Lead, Support After Suicide Partnership) and Anne Embury (Suicide Liaison Service Lead, Cornwall Partnership NHS Trust) View the slides
- Putting the politics in suicide prevention: Dr Hazel Marzetti (University of Edinburgh) and Dr Alex Oaten, (University of Lincoln)
- Community conversations on suicide prevention: Philippa Carr (Head of Education and Suicide Prevention, Jami UK) and Seher Kayikci (Senior Public Health Strategist, Barnet Council) View the slides
- Caring Safely Together. Suicide prevention is everyone’s business. Let’s talk about support for parents and carers: Catherine Phillips (Project Lead Stepping Back Safely) Sue Willgoss (Advisor for Suicide Prevention with Lived Experience) Deirdre Williams (Associate Chief Psychological Professions Officer) Dr. Jamie Thomas (Principal Psychologist in the Crisis Assessment and Intensive Support Team, Norfolk & Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust) Douglas Cave (Suicide Prevention Campaigner) View the slides
- Working with minoritised ethnic communities: Lourdes Colclough (Head of Suicide Prevention, Rethink Mental Illness) Taylor Morrisson (Health and Wellbeing Project Officer, Watford FC CSE Trust) Richard Tandoh (Expert by Experience, Rethink Mental Illness) Paul Amuzie, Director of Brakethesilence and Senior Community Organiser at Citizens UK)
The NSPA’s ninth annual conference brought together people with an interest in suicide prevention across the private, public and voluntary sector to network, learn and share. View the full agenda
Suicide prevention is everybody’s business. Yet all too often, people in marginalised and economically disadvantaged groups find it harder to access relevant support, and experience higher rates of suicide. Never has this been more important than during a national cost of living crisis and with the NHS under increasing stress.
In the context of a new national plan, we asked what more we can do to reverse this trend over the next decade and how we can learn from the lived experience of people in these communities and put this into practice.
Plenary speakers:
- Professor Louis Appleby (Chair, National Suicide Prevention Strategy Advisory Group) – View the presentation slides and watch the presentation
- Professor Ann John (Professor in Public Health & Psychiatry at Swansea University Medical School) – View the presentation slides and watch the presentation.
- Professor Prathiba Chitsabesan (Associate National Clinical Director for Children & Young People’s Mental Health, NHS England)
- Sarah Dangar (CEO at Ahimsa & VAWG Consultant) – Watch the presentation
- Sue Willgoss (NSPA Lived Experience Influencer) – View the presentation slides and watch the presentation
- Jody Foster, Mark Foster & Nicola Jones (founders of Ellie’s Angels): View the presentation slides and watch the presentation
Morning workshops
- How to involve people with lived experience to shape policies around health inequality: View the presentation slides
- Suicide inequalities in the Gypsy & Traveller communities: View the presentation slides
- Domestic abuse and suicide – what can we learn from the voices of victims of domestic abuse who have tried to take their own lives? View the presentation slides
- Supporting LGBTQ+ young people with suicidal thoughts; Grassroots Suicide Prevention and Allsorts Youth Project. View the presentation slides
- Suicide Prevention and mental health within the South Asian population
Afternoon workshops
- Internet safety, suicide and self-harm: How can we support people to have safe and positive experiences online? View the presentation slides
- The benefits of a GP Mental Health Fellowship scheme to the suicide prevention agenda: View the presentation slides
- Innovative practices for suicide prevention at high-risk locations. (this was a discussion)
- Hidden & High-Risk: Reflections on the need for prioritisation of suicide prevention activities with individuals under probation supervision. View the presentation slides
- Research into suicide postvention services in LGBTQ+ community. View the presentation slides
Plenary speakers:
- Gillian Keegan MP (Minister for Care and Mental Health)
- Professor Louis Appleby (Chair, National Suicide Prevention Strategy Advisory Group)
- Gareth Owen (Lead for Suicide and Self-Harm Prevention, Department of Health and Social Care) Download the presentation slides
- Catherine McGill (NSPA Lived Experience Influencer) Download the presentation. Watch the recording.
- Jessica Worner (NSPA Lived Experience Network Manager) and Sandeep Saib, Emma Williams and Penny Phillips (NSPA Lived Experience Influencers) Watch the recording.
- Dr. Duleeka Knipe (EBI Vice Chancellor’s Research Fellow, Bristol Medical School) Maxine Roper (NSPA Lived Experience Influencer) and Shilla Patel (NSPA Lived Experience Influencer)Watch the recording.
- Poppy Jaman (CEO of City Mental Health Alliance) and Julie Bentley (CEO of Samaritans) in conversation. View the recording.
Morning workshops:
- Exploring how we can make the internet a safer space for individuals experiencing self-harm and suicidal feelings – Samaritans
- First Hand: Making sense of the memories and emotions following the suicide of someone you didn’t know – Support After Suicide Partnership and Grassroots. Download the presentation
- Suicide prevention in young people: Research and peer support – NW Counselling Hub
- Alcohol dependency and suicide: Lived experience perspectives on barriers to support and ‘what works’ – We Are With You and partners in the Suicide Prevention Consortium
- Compassionate, co-produced safety-planning: Two examples of good practice – North East & North Cumbria Suicide Prevention Network and 4 Mental Health.
Afternoon workshops:
- Effective interventions for those who self-harm: a randomised control trial – Harmless
- Expansion and implementation of Real-Time Surveillance across London to incorporate self-harm and attempted suicide data – Thrive LDN
- A joined up and proactive approach to the prevention and awareness of the mental health and wellbeing challenges faced by workers across the construction industry – Mates in Mind
- Approaches to high risk locations – City of London
- Preventing and responding to student suicide in Further Education (FE) and Higher Education (HE) settings – Professor Jo Smith and Dr Sharon Mallon
NSPA’s seventh annual conference took place online on Thursday 28th January 2021.
This year’s conference included plenary talks on: the national strategy and the impact of Covid-19; lessons learned from waves 1-3 of NHS England suicide prevention funding; national progress on real time suicide surveillance; and national and local work to reduce online harms.
Plenary speakers
- Nadine Dorries MP (Minister for Patient Safety, Suicide Prevention and Mental Health)
- Dennis Baldwin (NSPA Lived Experience Speaker)
- Professor Louis Appleby, (Chair, National Suicide Prevention Strategy Advisory Group) Download presentation slides
- Tammy Coles (Head of Mental Health Delivery, Public Health England & Barney Thorne, Suicide Prevention Lead, Leicester Police) Download presentation slides
- Jay Nairn (Senior Programme Manager – Mental Health, NHS England) Download presentation slides
- Lydia Grace (Online Harms Programme Manager at Samaritans), Hayley Martin (Health Improvement Principal, Public Health, East Sussex Council) and Dr Ian Marsh (Suicide-Safer Project Lead & Reader, School of Allied and Public Health Professions, Canterbury Christ Church University) View the recording
- Catherine McGill (NSPA Lived Experience Speaker)
Morning workshops
- Stepping Back Safely: Involving carers and family members in support and safety planning – Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust
- Self-harm: A study into the drivers, function and method – Harmless CIC
- Delivering suicide prevention work virtually during the pandemic: results from our evaluation on working with men in crisis – James’ Place
- Speak Their Name: Peer support in the creation of the Greater Manchester Suicide Memorial Quilt – Greater Manchester Health and Social Care
Afternoon workshops
- Approaches to including and involving diverse lived experience voices in suicide prevention – NSPA
- Exposing (and reducing) the link between domestic abuse and suicide – Kent and Medway Suicide Prevention Team
- ‘Warning Signs’ – reaching out to middle aged men: How to design and implement a successful campaign using a social marketing approach – Sussex Health and Care Partnership
- Bereavement support: Considering the essential elements of a practical postvention service – The Tomorrow Project
The NSPA’s sixth suicide prevention conference took place on Tuesday 28th January at the Kia Oval, London. Over 300 people came together to network, learn and share.
“I thought the day was excellent, I loved hearing from those affected by suicide bravely talking about their stories and how they influence change in services .”
Plenary sessions
- Speaking from his own words – Steve Gilbert (Serious Mental Illness Living Experience Consultant)
- Update on the national strategy – Professor Louis Appleby (National Director for Mental Health in England and Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Manchester)
- From national strategy to local plans: Sector led improvement approach progress – Jacqui Morrissey (Assistant Director of Research & Influencing, Samaritans) and Jim McManus (Vice President, Association of Directors of Public Health)
- Reflections on progress of the cross-government workplan and some ideas for the future – Gregor Henderson (Public Health Strategic Advisor, Public Health England and Chair of National Suicide Prevention Strategy Delivery Group)
- Effective emergency service employee health and wellbeing support – Mark Thomas (Group Manager, Prevention, Community Risk Management, Merseyside Fire and Rescue)
- Film: Merseyside emergency services (password: merseyfire)
- Film: Mind blue light joint emergency service from Wirral Mind
- Learning lessons from every suicide: Barnsley’s suspected suicide learning panel – Phil Ainsworth (Public Health Senior Practitioner, Barnsley Council)
- Speaking from his own experience – David Mosse (Professor of Social Anthropology at SOAS and Chair of Haringey Suicide Prevention Group)
Morning workshops
- Re framing and Re energising suicide prevention on the Sussex coast using design methods: East Sussex County Council and the Design Council
- Working with schools to implement suicide prevention activities: Norfolk County Council
- Self harm in high risk groups and suicide prevention, recent evidence from the Multicentre study of self-harm England: University of Manchester and Derbyshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust
- Patient and Public Involvement in a PHD research project exploring self-harm in older adults: Keele University
- Setting up and delivering a local suicide bereavement service: Lifecraft
- Building a network, establishing successful multi-agency partnership working to support cross-system delivery of suicide prevention plans: North East and North Cumbria Suicide Prevention Network
Afternoon workshops
- The art of the possible – Partnership working to make public/commercial spaces safer: Oxfordshire County Council, Oxford Samaritans, and Landsec
- Practise Hope – bringing about a culture change in primary care practices to help 10-25 year olds with thoughts of suicide of self harm: Olly’s Future and Health Education England (Kent, Surrey and Sussex)
- Role of the general practitioner in the management of self harm behaviour in primary care: Keele University
- Exploring ways to communicate with men using creative, arts based story telling and lived experience: Coventry City Council, South Warwickshire CCG, and Warwickshire County Council
- Delivering an NHS-led bereavement support service: Support After Suicide Partnership and South West London Health & Care Partnership
- Suicide prevention across an integrated care system: Barnsley Council and Health and Care working Together in South Yorkshire and Bassetlaw ICS
The NSPA’s fifth suicide prevention conference was held on Tuesday 5 February 2019, at the Kia Oval in London.
More than 250 people from the public, private, and voluntary sectors attended the event. It was a busy and insightful day, with attendees sharing knowledge and experiences. The feedback was overwhelmingly positive, with one participant saying:
“Excellent conference! Powerful content and lots of information – very thought-provoking. Thank you!”
View the full conference agenda.
Plenary sessions
- National Suicide Prevention Strategy – Professor Louis Appleby, National Director for Mental Health in England and Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Manchester
- Self-harm in young people – Professor Ellen Townsend, Professor of Psychology at the University of Nottingham
- Suicide mitigation: Aiming to combine compassion and governance in a HE setting – Clare Dickens, Senior Lecturer on Mental Health at the University of Wolverhampton
- Risk and prevention in people of working age – Professor Nav Kapur, Head of Research at the Centre for Suicide Prevention at the University of Manchester
- Working with businesses and the community to prevent suicide – Xenia Koumi, Project Officer at the City of London Corporation
- Non-fatal self-harm in older people – Professor David Owens, Associate Professor at the University of Leeds
- Suicide prevention and later life: An overview and reflections on co-producing peer initiatives – Jolie Goodman, Programme Manager for Empowerment & Later Life at the Mental Health Foundation
Morning workshops
- Building suicide-safer school communities: Case studies: PAPYRUS Prevention of Young Suicide
- Loneliness and suicide prevention in policy and practice: Samaritans
- GPs and suicide prevention – the value of peer training: CPSL Mind
- ‘One Size Doesn’t Fit All’ – the latest evidence about suicide in the autistic community: Autistica
- Reaching men through sport: It Takes Balls to Talk
- Responding to the needs of LGBTQ people in suicidal distress: MindOut
- Being an effective trans ally
- Gender-specific and gender-neutral pronouns
- Being a supportive peer or co-worker
- Creating a welcoming environment
Afternoon workshops
- Including people with personal experience in suicide prevention: National Suicide Prevention Alliance
- Local suicide prevention planning – good practice, innovation and sector led improvement: Public Health England
- Providing support to those in crisis: Journey of Hope and James’ Place
- Reducing self-harm in young people: Professor Ellen Townsend and Keith Waters
- Supporting children and young people bereaved by suicide: Samaritans and Winston’s Wish
The NSPA’s fourth suicide prevention conference was held on 31st January 2018.
The conference focused on the development and evaluation of local suicide prevention plans, with further sessions on men and suicide, lived experience, and other high-risk populations.
It brought together more than 230 delegates working in suicide prevention across the UK, who heard presentations and took part in workshops with a wide range of experts in the field including those with lived experience.
Hear reflections from plenary speakers and NSPA Steering Group members about the NSPA Conference 2018:
The NSPA’s third suicide prevention conference was held on Tuesday 7 February 2017 at The Kia Oval in London. The 2017 conference focused on looking at how the conversation around suicide has changed and its increasing political and public profile.
The Secretary of State for Health, Jeremy Hunt, shared this opening video message:
Speakers included:
- Professor Louis Appleby (Chair, National Suicide Prevention Strategy Advisory Group)
- Rt Hon Norman Lamb MP (Chair, West Midlands Mental Health Commission)
- Malcolm Rae OBE (Trustee Chair, State of Mind)
- Dr Phil Cooper (Trustee Secretary, State of Mind)
- Danny Sculthorpe (Trustee, State of Mind)
- Professor Tim Kendall (National Clinical Director for Mental Health, NHS England)
- Cllr Richard Kemp (Deputy Chair of the Community Wellbeing Board, Local Government Association)
- Pat Nicholl (Mental Wellbeing Lead, Champs Public Health Collaborative)
- Miranda Frost (Founder & former CEO, Grassroots Suicide Prevention)
- David Crepaz-Kay (Head of Empowerment & Social Inclusion, Mental Health Foundation)
- Helen Garnham (National Programme Manager Public Mental Health, Public Health England)
Breakout sessions were delivered on the following topics:
- Local suicide prevention planning
- Suicide in autism
- Local suicide prevention initiatives
- Services and trusts integrating to improve care in self-harm
- Learning from child suicides
- Making sense of national and local data
- Exploring the use of the internet in relation to suicidal behaviour
- Talking about suicide on HOPELineUK
- Delivering a suicide bereavement liaison service
The NSPA’s second suicide prevention conference was held on Tuesday 2nd February at The Kia Oval in London.
The NSPA believes in engaging the whole of society in suicide prevention and the 2016 conference focused on empowering local action and collaboration to achieve this.
Speakers included:
- Rt Hon Alistair Burt MP (Minister of State for Community & Social Care)
- Professor Louis Appleby CBE (Chair, National Suicide Prevention Strategy Advisory Group)
- Heather Stokes (Vice President, Strategic Development, LivingWorks International)
- Gregor Henderson (National Lead Wellbeing & Public Mental Health, Public Health England)
- Jonny Benjamin (Mental Health Campaigner)
Delegates were provided with the latest information on a wide range of initiatives, including:
- Zero suicide: Experiences from two pilot sites
- Men’s sheds: A community suicide prevention programme
- Suicide bereavement services
- Suicide safer communities
- Reducing suicide on the railway
- Suicide liaison services
- Services and trusts integrating to improve care in self-harm
- Risk and resilience: Identifying and supporting men
- Suicide and the media
- Suicide and offenders
The NSPA’s first ever suicide prevention conference One World Connected was held on Tuesday 3rd February at The Kia Oval in London.
The conference brought together over 200 participants from the public, private, and voluntary sectors to discuss the challenges of suicide prevention and share knowledge and best practices from across the country. Delegates included representatives from local councils, public health teams, NHS Foundation Trusts, Mental Health Trusts, voluntary organisations, and community interest companies.
The programme of speakers and workshop contributors included some of the field’s leading figures, including Professor Louis Appleby (Chair of the National Suicide Prevention Strategy Advisory Group) and Professor Keith Hawton (Director of the Centre for Suicide Research at the University of Oxford).
Workshops covered:
- Whole community approaches to suicide prevention.
- Approaches to local implementation of the strategy
- Suicide bereavement
- Supporting people at the point of crisis
- responding to suicide contagion and suicides in public places
Health Minister Norman Lamb opened the event, telling delegates
“There is no more important work than suicide prevention. Suicide needs to be openly debated and talked about in a way which has not happened in the past.”
The Minister also referenced figures from the recent report from the All Party Parliamentary Group for Suicide and Self-Harm Prevention ‘Inquiry into the State of Local Suicide Prevention Plans in England’ which found around a third of Local Authorities do not have suicide prevention plans or multi-agency suicide prevention groups and do not review local data on suicide. This gap in suicide prevention needs to be addressed.
“If we work together and if we give mental health and suicide prevention the priority they deserve, we can make sure that people are both healthy and happy.”
The Minister’s address was followed by a session led by Professor Louis Appleby and Professor Kevin Fenton from Public Health England looking at the national picture for suicide prevention.
Professor Appleby reported that suicide figures had risen by around five per cent in 2013 according to Government statistics and the group most at risk are middle aged men in their 40s to early 50s.
Professor Fenton spoke of the work that Public Health England is doing to reduce suicides including the development of guidance on responding to suicides in public places, geographic suicide contagion and the impact of social media, as well as identifying at risk groups.
The afternoon brought the focus back to the individual and the impact of suicide on all involved. Hamish Elvidge, Co-Chair of the NSPA and Chair of The Matthew Elvidge Trust spoke movingly of his own family’s experience following the suicide of their son Matthew in 2009 and emphasised the importance of building resilience and a better understanding of the value of looking after your mental health from a young age. Dr Andrew Reeves, Chair of the BACP and author of ‘Counselling suicidal clients’ reminded delegates that professionals are impacted by suicide too, and he spoke openly and honestly about his experience of losing a client to suicide and the need to address fears around talking about suicide.
All in all, it was a good day and NSPA Co-Chair Alison Mohammed and Chief Operating Officer at Rethink Mental Illness said:
“This conference is an opportunity to bring people together and to share best practice. To keep suicide prevention at the top of the agenda, we need all sections of society to work together to reduce suicide and improve support for those bereaved by suicide.
“Encouraging at risk groups and indeed everybody, to seek help early and to publicise the support available for those who are struggling, is crucial.”