We must amplify racialised voices in suicide prevention

To coincide with the launch of Amplifying Voices: Racialised Perspectives in Suicide Prevention, NSPA’s Lived Experience Network Manager, Jess Worner and Executive Lead, Rosie Ellis, share their reflections on working with the group, what the recommendations in the report mean for NSPA and how we all in suicide prevention must do more to amplify and listen to racialised voices. We encourage you to read the report before reading this blog.

Reflections on the working group

Jess: “Amplifying Voices brings together reflections and calls for change shared by members of a Learning and Collaboration Space. This was a group of racialised people with lived experience of suicide, who were all working in suicide prevention to make change. It was a space that aimed to foster peer connection, shared learning, and open conversation.

“Over several months, group members came together through online sessions, alongside exceptionally skilled anti-racist facilitators, Isaac Samuels and Natalia-Nana Lester-Bush. I was also privileged to support the group in their sessions. In these spaces, members reflected on their personal and professional experiences as racialised people in suicide prevention, which spanned policy, service provision, research, and community campaigning. They explored ways of collaborating with each other, reflected on self-care, shared successes, strengths and challenges, and discussed changes they wanted to see.

“Many members of the group shared that this was the first time they had the opportunity to be together with other racialised people working in suicide prevention. It became a place of honesty, solidarity, and mutual support. The conversations that grew within this space are at the heart of the Amplifying Voices report.”

What the space meant to group memebers

“Often, we have to be the ones supporting others, being strong, and it can make it harder to really say how we are fully. So, it’s nice to have somewhere to do that and not have to justify why it’s something that causes us so much stress.”

~ Group member

“I feel this has been a unique experience to get together with others of colour and really bond and connect over similar issues. It has been an extraordinary safe space, where I have been able to be open and honest, and just be me, without the fear of any judgment or limitations.”

~ Group member

The importance of Lived Experience

Rosie: “Lived experience is central to everything we do at the NSPA. We recognise that leadership through lived experience can carry not only expertise but also deep emotional labour. The anger, exhaustion, and vulnerability shared so openly by contributors in this report are legitimate forms of knowledge that deserve to be honoured.

“These emotions reveal the deep impact of systemic exclusion, as well as the strength and resilience required to challenge it. Honouring both the emotional and intellectual contributions of racialised individuals is essential if we are to build a suicide prevention sector that truly serves everyone.

“Alongside the principle of embedding lived experience in suicide prevention, another of the principles in the Government’s Suicide prevention in England: 5-year cross-sector strategy is that nobody should be left out of suicide prevention efforts. This includes being responsive to the needs of communities who have been marginalised in this work. Being more inclusive and responsive starts with building trust, listening to and improving our understanding of the lived experiences of these communities.”

Why we focused on racialised communities

Jess: “Racialised people have long been marginalised and underrepresented in suicide prevention work. Despite their leadership and expertise, systemic barriers have limited their influence on policy, research, service design, and funding decisions. This exclusion has real consequences, contributing to reduced access to culturally relevant, effective suicide prevention support.

“Through our wider work with people with lived experience of suicide, and reinforced by the reflections shared in Amplifying Voices, we have seen how systemic racism – along with other intersecting inequities linked to LGBTQ+ identity, religion and faith, neurodivergence, and disability – continues to hinder progress in suicide prevention.

“Members of the Learning and Collaboration Space shared barriers they face, including limited opportunities for meaningful involvement and co-production, a lack of funding for community-led initiatives, and dominant models of suicide prevention that often fail to reflect their lived realities and contexts.

“Recognising the experiences of racialised people does not diminish the struggles faced by other communities. Instead, it highlights the need for targeted action where gaps have been allowed to persist for too long. Amplifying racialised voices is not just about increasing visibility. It is about dismantling systemic barriers that get in the way of progress and prevent us achieving real equity.”

Reflecting on our own learning journey

Rosie: “In publishing Amplifying Voices, it’s vital for us to reflect on our own learning journey in convening and supporting a Learning & Collaboration space.

“Working in meaningful partnership with racialised communities, including organisations led by and for racialised people, expert consultants, and people with lived experience is essential. Whilst we did this from early in the project, a change I would make in retrospect is engaging with organisations and individuals from racialised communities from the outset, in order to shape the work. As an Alliance we have an opportunity to use our platforms and influence to amplify racialised voices and work in solidarity and allyship

“As the report states, we need to acknowledge, reflect on and change the lack of racial diversity of the NSPA’s leadership, team and community. This means ensuring we have the knowledge, confidence and commitment to approaching all of our work in an anti-racist way. As we have begun to learn through this project, creating spaces for racialised people to lead on how the NSPA works and shapes its programme will be vital. We need to work together to create a suicide prevention community that racialised people want to be a part of and feel supports them in their work.”

Jess: “Working with the members and facilitators of the learning and collaboration group was as much about the process of working together, as it was about the end outcome. We set out with an idea about how we would approach the space, but it was essential for us to take a step back and work with facilitators and group members to lead and shape what it looked like. This meant being flexible and responsive to how we worked together. It also meant taking a more flexible approach to outcomes. As the report highlights, many group members talked about the need for peer connections, collective care and nourishment. We were mindful of how organisational and funder-driven outcomes could encroach on this. To echo a core recommendation in the report, outcomes need to be co-produced with communities to make change meaningful.”

Our commitment to change

Rosie: “The NSPA fully supports and endorses the reflections, critiques, and recommendations shared in Amplifying Voices. We recognise that we have not always reflected the diversity of the communities we aim to serve which has contributed to the inequities described in this report. We are committed to taking action to change this.

“Convening and supporting this Learning & Collaboration space has been a first step in beginning to build trust and understanding with people from racialised communities and for us to reflect on what needs to change with our programme.

“Building on this we will work with racialised people to:

1. Continue to support Learning & Collaboration Spaces with people from racialised communities.

2. Review, reflect and implement changes across the NSPA’s programme and ways of working. This includes work at all levels, from working with our Steering Group to embed at governance level, to all of NSPA’s projects and programmes and our day-to-day work.

3. Work to influence and support change amongst the NSPA’s membership and the wider suicide prevention space and influencing system change for greater racial inclusion and equity in suicide prevention.

“This work is not a one-off. We are committed to continuous learning and greater transparency in the changes we make. We will continue to work with people from racialised communities to build on the recommendations outlined in the report.”

An invitation to the sector

Rosie: “Amplifying Voices calls on the entire suicide prevention sector to reflect, listen, and take action led by and alongside racialised individuals and communities. True inclusion demands more than good intentions. It requires sharing power, dismantling structural barriers, and ensuring that lived experience drives the future of suicide prevention.

“We invite everyone working in suicide prevention to take the time to engage with this report. Listen to the voices shared, reflect on the recommendations, and consider how you can be part of the change that is so urgently needed. Building a suicide prevention community that truly works for everyone starts with recognising and amplifying the voices that have been too often left unheard.

“This work requires sustained effort, openness to challenge, and a commitment to collaboration. At the NSPA, we are ready to take these steps, and we invite others across the sector to join us in standing with racialised people.”