Stronger together: Empowering community action to prevent youth suicide

Chair

Professor Pooja Saini

Pooja is a Professor of Suicide and Self-Harm Prevention, Co-Chair of the LJMU Women’s Academic Network and Lead for the LJMU Centre for Brain and Behaviour. Her research is focused at an individual-level, community-level and whole systems approach on risk management and decision-making processes for individuals, professionals, and service providers within forensic, clinical and non-clinical settings. Poojas main research interests are in suicide and self-harm prevention particularly in young people, Black and Asian Ethnic Minority Groups, reduction of health inequalities and coproduction.

Panel Members

Dr Maria Michail, Associate Professor in the Institute for Mental Health

Maria leads a nationally recognised programme of research focused on youth suicide prevention, grounded in collaboration with those who have lived experience at the School of Psychology, the University of Birmingham. Drawing on extensive work across primary care and community settings, Maria has shaped clinical practice in the UK through the development of good practice guidelines for managing suicide risk in consultations with young people—resulting in tangible improvements in care and support.

Dr Anna Lavis, Associate Professor in Medical Anthropology

Anna leads an extensive research programme into online harms at the University of Birmingham. Using the methodology of online ethnography this has explored: what primary school aged children do and see online; content on self-harm and suicide; eating disorders, body image and 'wellness' content; the harms and draws of the 'Manosphere'. Anna sits on Meta's 'Eating Disorders and Body Image Global Experts Advisory Board' and has worked closely with a wide range of key stakeholders and policymakers, most recently to shape the UK Online Safety Act.

Philip Pirie, a campaign reformer

Philip is a father bereaved by the suicide of his son Tom in 2020. After discovering that of the 17 people who take their own lives every day in the UK, five are in contact with mental health services and four of those five (80%) are assessed as low or no risk of suicide, he began his campaign for reform of the system of suicide risk assessment. This resulted in the new NHS England guidance “Staying Safe from Suicide”, published in April 2025, of which Philip was co-chair.

Jane Boland, an expert in suicide prevention

Jane is the Clinical Lead at James’ Place. She developed the therapeutic model and has recruited and trained the teams who deliver the unique and innovative therapy to men in a suicidal crisis. Prior to working at James’ Place, Jane was the Suicide Prevention lead for Mersey care NHS Trust and was the co-author of the award winning #SeeSaySignpost Training, which has now been accessed by over 2.2 million people. Jane believes that every man in a suicidal crisis can be supported to recover and that the right talking therapy can deliver real results for those men and their supporters.

Leah Preston a Psychology student at the University of Birmingham

Leah has a keen interest in taking on further study once graduating. Leah has been actively involved in youth advisory PPI work for nearly two years and is passionate about contributing to mental health research. Leah has worked on projects with both the University of Oxford and the University of Birmingham, including SERENE, and is an active member of the Institute for Mental Health Youth Advisory Group.

Lizzie Mitchell, a peer researcher

Lizzie is from Birmingham and has been involved in peer research for the last 4 years with roles ranging from involvement to co-production to co-application to advocacy. She is really passionate about helping other young people use their voice to enhance research and improve mental health outcomes for future generations. She also loves running, baking and musicals!