“Lived Experience” – SPA Sydney Symposium, 2014

SPA defines ‘lived experience of suicide’ as: ‘having experienced suicidal thoughts, survived a suicide attempt, cared for someone who has attempted suicide, been bereaved by suicide, or been touched by suicide in another way.’

SPA sees a future where we, as a sector and a community, trust that we are able to establish, implement, monitor and evaluate models, frameworks, programs and research that involve – rather than isolate – those with lived experience. We will draw from the wealth of knowledge and experience available to us from within suicidology and combine this with the wisdom offered by those who have lived through suicide. These are big but worthwhile ambitions, and SPA leads the development this strategy.