Leeds Mind is working with a team of volunteers to design a project together that aims to prevent deaths by suicide.
Our Suicide Prevention Coproduction volunteers, who all have lived experience of being impacted by suicide, recently created a series of short films to reinforce good practice amongst staff working in health and care.
Here is a blog from our project volunteers, with more about the process of making the films.
How did the project come about?
The Deputy Directors of Nursing of our three NHS trusts in Yorkshire* got together and looked at common findings of Serious Incident investigations and inquests following tragic suicides of service users.
They asked our team of lived experience volunteers to coproduce a resource that could support staff to provide the best care, to help prevent more deaths by suicide.
What was the creation process?
Over several weeks, our volunteers met to discuss what good practice feels like from a client perspective, drawing on their own lived experience.
We started creating storyboards and settled on three clear themes; 1) Communication is key 2) Support through the system and 3) Follow ups.
When it came time to film and edit, we partnered with Men’s Talk Digital, a men’s creative mental health project based in Kirklees. Partnering with Men’s Talk Digital meant that everyone involved in this project had lived experience of mental health challenges which spoke to our overall project aims of championing the voices of people with lived experience and pushing for system change.
Key messages from the films
Communication is key
“Good practice would feel like ‘holding space’. Being present with us and inviting us to speak openly. Staff will work with us to reflect and clarify during appointments and will phrase things thoughtfully, to build trust and make us feel supported.”
Support through the system
“It’s important that we feel fully supported throughout our journey. This includes person centred support built around us and keeping me informed as to what is happening with our case. This is what will help to keep us safe”.
Follow-ups
“Good support at the end of appointments is just as important as the content. Be prepared to follow up and take action. Remember that signposting needs to be person centred in order to work. All of this is key to building trust in the system.”
What happens next?
We feel that these films will be relevant to anyone working in health and care, and that their distribution will be much wider than we originally thought.
These films serve as a staff training resource to encourage good practice from staff. After watching the films, staff are given prompts for discussion, asking them how the films made them feel and what they might now do differently having watched them.
The film can be viewed and shared from here:
You can read more about the project on the West Yorkshire Suicide Prevention website.
Let us know about any improvements or changes you’re making because of the films at https://suicidepreventionwestyorkshire.co.uk/contact-us
*(Bradford District Care Trust (BDCT), Leeds and York Partnership Foundation Trust (LYPFT) and South West Yorkshire Foundation Trust (SWYFT))
