Volunteers who have been impacted by suicide have launched an anonymous online survey for people in West Yorkshire to share their experiences of mental health support.
The survey aims to make it easier for people to share their personal experiences of asking for help with their mental health and responses will be fed into a report to help improve services in the future.
The work is part of a ‘Community Conversations’ project which first launched last summer and has seen face-to-face sessions held throughout West Yorkshire by the volunteers, who all have experience of the impact of suicide – having been suicidal themselves, bereaved by suicide or support someone else facing mental health challenges.
It is the latest initiative of a two-year ‘coproduction’ project, commissioned by West Yorkshire Health and Care Partnership (WY HCP)’s Suicide Prevention Programme and led by Leeds Mind, to bring the voice of lived experience into suicide prevention work in West Yorkshire.
The ‘Community Conversations’ aim to capture people's views on what has worked well, what didn’t work and if anything was missing from mental health services and support.
Arlie Haslam, co-ordinator of the coproduction project at Leeds Mind, said the online survey has seen responses more than double since its launch.
She said: “People have been sharing they find digital means of access easier – it gives them the time and space to really consider their answers, as opposed to doing it in person with a volunteer.”
Community Conversations Survey (surveymonkey.co.uk)