Our 5th annual World Mental Health Day Seminar took place on Thursday last week. Insightful conversations and innovative discussions abounded in the Dr Dora Allman Room in UCC as we heard from hugely informative national and international speakers.
We came together to share our experiences and our research related to mental health, self-harm and suicide in celebration of World Mental Health Day 2024.
Dr Shane Mc Inerney delivers his Keynote Presentation
Prof Alexandra Pitman from the University College of London Division of Psychiatry and Honorary Consultant Psychiatrist, Camden and Islington NHS Foundation Trust, delivered the Dr Michael J Kelleher Memorial Lecture on ‘Temporal risk factors for suicide: anticipating & mitigating risk’.
Our Keynote Speaker, Dr Shane Mc Inerney, from the University of Galway and National Clinical Lead for Self-Harm and Suicide Related Ideation, presented ‘Findings from a Safety Planning Group Interventions and Updates on the National Clinical Programme for Self-Harm and Suicide related ideation.
Left to right: Dr Eric Kelleher, Prof Alexandra Pitman, Dr Eve Griffin, Dr Shane Mc Inerney, Dr Margaret Kelleher, Prof Ella Arensman
In addition, we held three Masterclasses on:
Engaging contributors in Lived Experience Research, facilitated by Dr Aileen Callanan and the NSRF Lived Experience Panel
Mental Health Promotion and Suicide Prevention in the Workplace, facilitated by Prof Ella Arensman and Dr Mallorie Leduc
Interventions for specific subgroups who engage in self-harm, facilitated by Dr Mary Kells and Dr Eric Kelleher
Masterclass
This Seminar was organised by the NSRF, in particular members of the C-SSHRI team. C-SSHRI is a research community specific to suicide and self-harm, which aims to facilitate collaboration between researchers, help with disemmination of research findings and raise awareness of our research.
The C-SSHRI Network is always open to new members – you can learn more here.
With thanks to the Higher Education Authority of Ireland and the HSE National Office for Suicide Prevention for their support of our event and of C-SSHRI.
With a few of our current projects exploring this exact topic, mental health in the workplace is a very timely theme for the NSRF. For example, PROSPERH; a Horizon Europe-funded research project which began in January of this year.
To increase awareness of mental health in the workplace, and to showcase the research progressing in this area, we are planning a one-day Seminar in collaboration with the Higher Education Authority and the HSE National Office for Suicide Prevention.
In keeping with our previous annual World Mental Health Day events, this Seminar will include the Dr Michael Kelleher Memorial Lecture, as well as a Keynote Lecture and Research Masterclasses.
The list of speakers will be announced soon, so keep an eye here and on X for updates.
Update: We have now reached capacity for registration. If you would like any further information, please email infonsrf@ucc.ie
The European Symposium on Suicide and Suicidal Behaviour (ESSSB) takes place every two years and is considered one of the most important international meetings exploring suicidal behaviours and suicide prevention.
This year, beautiful, historic Rome and it’s glorious sunshine provided the perfect setting for a very engaging meeting.
Several members of the NSRF team attended the conference, which took place 28th – 31st August.
The NSRF team exchanged knowledge and experiences with others in attendance, and heard about the latest challenges and innovation surrounding global mental health and suicide prevention.
Dr Eibhlín Walsh presenting at ESSSB20
Below is a list of our team members who attended the conference and the titles of their presentations.
For more information on any of the presentation or projects, please email infonsrf@ucc.ie
Dr Eve Griffin
Social Determinants of Suicide: An Umbrella Review
Professor Ella Arensman
Bridging the Treatment Gap for Depression and Suicidal Behaviour: EAAD’ s 4-Level Approach for Stigma Reduction and Help-Seeking Facilitation
Mental Health Promotion and Intervention in Occupational Settings: MENTUPP
Implementation and Evaluation of National Suicide Prevention Programmes – A Global Perspective
Dr Paul Corcoran
Surveillance of Self-Harm and Suicide in Ireland and the Impact on Public Health Policy – Progress and Challenges
Dr Isabela Troya
Healthcare Practitioners’ Views on Management Practices of Self-Harm in Older Adults: A Qualitative Study Conducted in Ireland
A meta-ethnography of adolescents’ perspectives on and experiences with post-primary school-based suicide prevention (Poster Presentation)
Dr Selena O’Connell
Understanding Variation in Clinical Management of Hospital-Presenting Self-Harm: A Qualitative Study of the Implementation of a National Clinical Programme
Mallorie joined the National Suicide Research Foundation as a Senior Researcher on the Horizon 2020 EU-funded, Mental Health Promotion and Intervention in Occupational Settings, MENTUPP, project.
Within the team based in Ireland, Mallorie is involved in the coordination of the cluster randomised controlled trial involving organisations from the construction, healthcare and ICT sectors across 8 European countries and Australia.
Mallorie completed an Interdisciplinary PhD in Rural and Northern Health focused on occupational health and safety education intervention programs that have been conducted within rural and northern industries and communities.
Dr Madhav Bhargav is a postdoctoral researcher at National Suicide Research Foundation and School of Public Health at University College Cork.
He completed his master’s and PhD from the School of Psychology at Trinity College Dublin. His PhD focuses on childhood trauma and psychopathology in college students.
His research within NSRF focuses broadly on public health and policy related to suicide and self-harm across Europe.
Madhav has presented at various international conferences on youth mental health, with particular focus on childhood trauma and emotional dynamics in youth. He has also published peer reviewed papers, several articles, and presented on topics relating to mental health of youths in Universities.
Úna joined the NSRF in September 2023 as Financial Controller. Úna has worked in finance for 18 years and has held senior positions within the Healthcare Sector.
Úna qualified as an accountant with CPA Ireland in 2009 and continues to undertake continuous professional training and development each year.
Together with Eileen Hegarty, Úna overseas the finance function of the NSRF and is responsible for all financial reporting activities and ensuring financial compliance as well as budgeting, forecasting and long-term financial planning.
Michelle is a post-doctoral researcher working on the Health Service Executive National Office for Suicide Prevention (HSE-NOSP) funded projects, having joined the NSRF in 2023. In addition, Michelle is also a Clinical Pharmacy Lecturer at the School of Pharmacy, UCC.
Michelle’s PhD examined the effects of a mindfulness-based intervention on pharmacy student stress and distress, a national mixed-methods controlled trial. Her current research interests lie in the areas of suicide prevention and wellbeing education, postvention interventions, and reducing access to means.
Michelle qualified as a pharmacist after completing her BPharm at UCC in 2011, and MPharm in RCSI in 2012. Michelle also holds a Certificate in Teaching and Learning from UCC, and a Professional Diploma in the Teaching of Mindfulness-Based Interventions.
HUGG, led by Fiona Tuomey (CEO), is an organisation supporting adults bereaved by suicide across Ireland through peer support groups. These are groups of up to 12 people bereaved by suicide who meet every fortnight to discuss their bereavement experiences and support each other.
Our research team received funding through the Irish Research Council to examine the impact of participating in these groups and the experiences of group members, using a combination of follow-up surveys (for up to 6 months) and interviews. We learned that those attending peer support groups experienced improved wellbeing and reduced symptoms of traumatic grief. We also measured depression symptoms, physical grief reactions, and stigma experienced. These measures did not change during participation in the groups.
When we interviewed people attending the HUGG groups, they told us about why the groups helped them. The groups provided the opportunity to share their experiences with other people bereaved by suicide; to feel less alone in their experiences; to glean hope from seeing people at different stages in their bereavement journey; and to think about things differently through hearing other peoples’ perspectives.
In this project, we heard from a small sample of people, and did not capture views of people who may have had negative experiences of peer support. However, our research highlights the benefits of peer support groups for those who seek them out. The study also tells us about the experiences that might be more difficult to change for people bereaved by suicide. We saw little change in peoples’ experiences of stigma. Improving this likely requires activities that encourage all of us, in the wider public, to continue to challenge stigma towards suicide and suicide bereavement.
“Ni neart go cur le chéile” or in other words, there is no strength without unity.
Grace is a research officer at the National Suicide Research Foundation. Grace is involved in the organisation of C-SSHRI Network research events such as Webinars, Workshops and Virtual Seminars. Grace is also responsible for research funded by the Higher Education Authority’s. Her work will contribute to the overall outcomes of ‘Connecting for Life’ to reduce suicide and self-harm rates in the whole population and amongst specified priority groups.
Before joining the NSRF, Grace worked in the School of Public Health, and temporally in the School of Nursing and Midwifery, UCC. Grace has completed an honours undergraduate degree in Public Health (UCC) and a Master of Public Health, Epidemiology pathway, at the School of Public Health in UCC.
Ireland’s First National Suicide Bereavement Survey ‘AfterWords– A survey of people bereaved by suicide in Ireland’, a collaboration between the NSRF and HUGG, was launched by Minister Mary Butler on Tuesday 11th October 2022 at an event hosted by the Lord Mayor of Dublin, Caroline Conroy, at the Mansion House, Dublin.
The launch was followed by a key stakeholder workshop, which generated important action points and priority recommendations to inform service development and policy, along with further research in this area.
The 2020 Annual Report of the National Self-Harm Registry Ireland was published on November 9th, in addition to a data briefing covering the period January-June 2021, utilising data from a sample of 22 hospitals.
Disseminating and sharing our research findings is important to us. Team members attended various national and international Conferences and Seminars, delivering informative presentations and connecting with other suicide and self-harm researchers. This included the large European ESSSB19 Conference in Copenhagen in August. All NSRF presentations at ESSSB19 listed below.
Events
Members of the NSRF attended a meeting of the Pan-European Mental Health Coalition in Copenhagen on August 23rd. NSRF areas of expertise in relation to key priority areas within the European Framework for action on Mental Health 2021-2025 were discussed.
On September 15th, we hosted a World Suicide Prevention Day Webinar at which we launched our new HRB Ireland Research Training Programme – MHAINTAIN.
On October 14th, we held a Suicide, Self-Harm and Mental Health virtual Seminar to mark World Mental Health Day.
Congratulations!
Huge congratulations to Ruth Benson, who successfully passed her PhD Viva in October. Ruth’s thesis addressed: Real-time surveillance for evidence-based responses to suicide contagion and clustering, which she conducted in the School of Public Health and the National Suicide Research Foundation.
Congratulations to Dr Caroline Daly for winning the best poster presentation award at the 19th European Symposium on Suicide and Suicidal Behaviour in Copenhagen for her work on ‘Preventing intentional paracetamol overdose in countries with increasing rates and existing sales legislation’
Looking ahead
As we approach the end of the year, our team will be finalising projects and reports and beginning to reflect on 2022 as a whole. For all our latest news and updates, keep an eye on our Twitter, our Publications and Outputs and our Upcoming Events page.
