Generation Hope: Youth Suicide Prevention Conference took place on Monday 27 February at 09.30 for 10.00 – 16.00 at The MAC Belfast.
The 2020 Youth Wellbeing Prevalence Survey, showed that mental health problems in children and young people in Northern Ireland was 25 per cent higher than neighbouring regions. It also highlighted that 1 in 10 young people have self-harmed and 1 in 8 have thought about, or attempted suicide. Suicide is preventable and we can create hope for our young people by connecting and listening, and providing early interventions and preventions at critical points.
Generation Hope: Youth Suicide Prevention Conference focused on how we can prevent suicide in young people, discussing the factors that influence suicidal behaviour and showed that by including young people in service development and planning can foster hope and save lives.
Thank you to everyone who attended and to our brilliant line up of speakers.
Running Order
09:30 – 10:00 Registration
10:00 – 10:10 Welcome and introduction by Tara Mills, BBC Presenter
10:10 – 10:30 Opening Remarks
Professor Siobhan O’Neill, Mental Health Champion and Professor of Mental Health Sciences, Ulster University
10:30 – 11:30 Keynote One - Suicide and Self-harm in Young People: A New Prevention Challenge?
Presented by Professor Nav Kapur, Professor of Psychiatry and Population Health, University of Manchester
11:30 – 12:00 Right Support at the Right Time - Doing it for Themselves
Presented by Crisis Cafe
12:00 – 13:00 Breakout Sessions
Breakout Room 1 – Media and Suicide, Presented by Lorna Fraser, Samaritans
Breakout Room 2 – LGBT+ Youth: Suicide, Prevention and Practice, Presented by Dr Hazel Marzetti, Researcher, University of Edinburgh
Breakout Room 3 – Postvention: Prevention for the Next Generation after a Suicide, Presented by Barry McGale, Senior Suicide Prevention Consultant and Trainer, Suicide Bereavement UK
13:00 – 13:45 Break and Lunch
13:45 – 14:45 Keynote Two
Presented by Professor Ella Arensman, Professor of Public Mental Health, University College Cork and Chief Scientist, National Suicide Research Foundation
14:45 – 15:45 Panel Session – Policy Priorities for Youth Suicide Prevention
- Professor Siobhan O’Neill, Mental Health Champion and Professor of Mental Health Sciences, Ulster University
- Koulla Yiasouma, Northern Ireland's Commissioner for Children and Young People
- Caroline King, Area Manager Northern Ireland, PAPYRUS UK
- Inez Murray
15:45 – 16:00 Closing Remarks
You can watch the conference in the video below: