Work Package 2

The role of community-based and peer-led services in creating and sustaining liveable lives

Work Package 2 builds on and expands relationships from previous research projects Suicide Cultures: Reimagining Suicide Research and Suicide In/As Politics. This part of the project responds to the limited reach of clinical approaches to suicide prevention. It aims to help us better understand community-based and peer-led practices of care in relation to suicide and ‘liveability’. Whilst our ethnographic fieldwork focuses on UK-based organisations, WP2’s desk-based research will contribute to growing the global evidence base for community and peer-led support for those at risk of or living with suicidality.  

Work Package 2 team members:

  • Sarah Huque, Lead
  • Alex Oaten, Co-lead
  • Debbie Solomon, Research Assistant
  • Nakkita De Silva, Research Assistant
  • Post-doctoral research fellow (starting post in September 2026)
Read about WP2 team members
WP2 team member photos in circular photo frames: top left is Sarah Huque, top right is Alex Oaten, bottom left is Nakkita De Silva, bottom right is Debbie Solomon
Work Package 2 Team Members

Research Questions

 

  • What practices of care, collaboration, support and suicide prevention or liveability are present in different peer-led and community-based services?

     

  • Who is missing, and what barriers and boundaries are present?

     

  • How far do these services positively disrupt hierarchies of liveable lives that are present in policy and practice?

     

  • What forms of good practice in peer-led and community-based support can be identified, that effectively support service users/clients/community-members in enhancing ‘liveability’? 

Research Activities

Meta-ethnography: Researchers will undertake a rigorous review of existing research about community-led and peer-led suicide related services and/or interventions.  

6 Long-term Ethnographies: This is the core activity of WP2 and will involve 4 researchers spending an extended period in/with community-based groups that support those who experience suicidality. During their time with these groups, the team will learn more about how care and support are provided and experienced in different settings/communities and will work collaboratively  to generate rich, qualitative evidence to improve service provision and show what works to support ongoing funding. These ethnographies will be split between England and Scotland with at least one in each nation being a) peer-led; b) focused on supporting refugee, migrant, black and minority ethnic communities who have been largely unrepresented in suicide research in the UK. 

Updates & Events

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