Exploring suicide and stigma with different communities: Suicide Prevention Consortium blogs and audiograms

This project was developed with the government’s Suicide Prevention in England: 5-year cross-sector strategy in mind. The strategy emphasizes the need for more comprehensive research and a better understanding of suicide amongst ethnic groups, including people who are ‘Gypsy, Roma or Travellers’. It also states the importance of reflecting the views and experiences of people with personal experience of suicide from these communities in the development of policy and actions.

We worked with people from Gypsy, Roma, Traveller and Showmen communities to share what was important to them in their words. This includes what they want policymakers to know about suicide and stigma within their communities.

You can hear what they told us in our blog series, which includes audiograms:

– Roma people and suicide
– Showmen and suicide
– Gypsy people and suicide
– New Travellers and suicide

These communities are often grouped together but it was important to both us and the people we worked with that we explore their experiences as distinct communities.

This work has been funded through the VCSE Health and Wellbeing Alliance, jointly managed and funded by the Department of Health and Social Care, NHS England and the UK Health Security Agency. For more information, please visit the Health and Wellbeing Alliance website.

* About the Suicide Prevention Consortium

The Suicide Prevention Consortium is led by Samaritans and also includes the National Suicide Prevention Alliance (NSPA), Support After Suicide Partnership (SASP) and WithYou. As part of the VCSE Health and Wellbeing Alliance, it aims to bring the expertise of its member organisations and the voice of those with lived experience directly to policymakers, to improve suicide prevention in England.