For World Mental Health Day, we are launching a series of videos featuring people talking about what helped them in their own journeys and in supporting others with self-harm and suicidal thoughts.
At Samaritans, the voices of people with lived experience are at the heart of our work. With that in mind, we’ve created a series of videos featuring personal stories of people with lived experience and our listening volunteers for Samaritans’ YouTube Channel.
With these videos, the Online Excellence Programme aims to reach people searching online and share different perspectives about what might be helpful. Everyone is unique, and what works for one person may not necessarily work for others when it comes to coping with self-harm and suicidal thoughts. Additional links to our pages and other sources of support are included in the videos descriptions.
The videos will be part of the YouTube Health Shelf, an initiative from the platform to prioritise results from reliable and trusted sources when searching for health-related information, such as coping with suicidal thoughts.
The videos
The initial videos will launch on World Mental Health Day. Further videos will be launched throughout the year.
- What are suicidal thoughts and why am I having them?
- How do I approach a conversation with someone who might be struggling with suicidal thoughts?
- How do I navigate the journey of coping with self-harm and suicidal feelings?
- How can I help myself cope when struggling with self-harm?
- What are the pros and cons of using social media when coping with self-harm and suicidal thoughts?
- Why is it important to talk about self-harm and suicidal feelings?
- How do I support someone who’s self-harming or having suicidal feelings?
- How do I navigate the journey of coping with self-harm and suicidal feelings?
- What’s a safety plan and how can it support people with thoughts of self-harm?
- How do I navigate the journey of coping with thoughts of self-harm and suicide?
Developed in collaboration with people with lived experience
The Online Excellence Programme’s Lived Experience Advisory Group has provided valuable insight and worked closely with us to decide on what should be included in the videos and how to make them safe and supportive.
It’s been amazing being part of this project, from hearing about the initial ideas and honing the video subjects to seeing them come to life in ways we couldn’t have imagined. The footage is so raw, powerful and insightful and everyone who’s contributed has really bared their soul and their humanity and care shine through. Working with Samaritans is always a pleasure, we’re valued throughout and we see changes being made that we’ve suggested in their desire to reach those who need it most and to platform voices of lived experience. This content will make such a difference and I’m proud to have been a small part of that and honoured to have been given the opportunity to be involved
Lived Experience Advisor
We invited people with lived experience and Samaritans’ listening volunteers to be featured in these videos. We worked with them to decide the content covered in the recordings and what people might find helpful.
My own experiences have shown me how vital it is to have access to supportive yet credible information. With so much available online, it can be overwhelming trying to navigate resources and find ones which you can trust, which is why I’m so glad to be able to contribute to creating accessible, relatable and hopefully helpful content. Everyone’s mental health journey is different, with its ups and downs; I’m grateful to be in a place in my journey where I can share my experiences to help others.
Afeefa, contributor in our videos
Samaritans Online Excellence Programme aims to promote consistently high standards across the sector, reduce access to harmful self-harm and suicide content and promote opportunities for online support. The Programme consists of a research and insight programme, a hub of online safety resources, guidance for practitioners, the development of industry guidelines and an online harms advisory service.