BU Research Blog

To mark World Suicide Prevention Day 2019, the Institute for Mental Health warmly invites you to attend:

‘Reaching out’: Exploring Interdisciplinary Approaches to Self-Harm and Suicide Prevention in Young People

Date: Friday 13 September 2019

Time: 09:30-16:00

Venue: Michael Tippet Room, Staff House, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, B15 2TT

Register now

The programme will feature keynote talks from researchers in Suicide and Self-Harm, Dr Jo Robinson, Dr Maria Michail and Dr Anna Lavis. You will also hear the latest in interdisciplinary research at the University of Birmingham from our Early Career Researchers and current PhD students.

Keynote speakers:

Professor Jo Robinson leads Orygen’s suite of research programmes around suicide prevention. She currently coordinates several research projects in collaboration with Australian and overseas universities. Professor Robinson’s work focuses on improving our knowledge about the best approaches to reduce suicide risk among young people. This includes developing programs, testing novel approaches that specifically target at-risk youth, and translating the research evidence into practice and policy. She has also been involved in the development of several government-commissioned community resources and has contributed to numerous advisory panels and expert committees.

Dr Maria Michail is a Senior Birmingham Fellow in the Institute for Mental Health at the University of Birmingham. Dr Michail leads an established research programme on youth suicide prevention. She has significant experience working in primary care settings and collaborates closely with the UK Royal College of General Practitioners to develop and evaluate educational resources support GPs in the assessment and management of suicidality in primary care.

Dr Anna Lavis is a Lecturer in Medical Sociology and Qualitative Methods and a member of the Institute for Mental Health. Her work explores individuals’ and informal caregivers’ experiences and subjectivities of mental illness and distress across a range of social and cultural contexts, both offline and on social media. Her research to date has particularly focused on eating disorders, psychosis and self-harm, with theoretical emphases on gender, bodies and embodiment, concepts and ethics of care, and the intersections of mental health and material culture.