Suicide and Self-Harm Research North West (SSHaRe NoW) is a collaboration between The University of Central Lancashire, Liverpool John Moores University, The University of Manchester, the Manchester Self-Harm Project, the Cheshire and Wirral Partnership NHS Trust and the NIHR Applied Research Collaborations (ARCs).

Our mission statement

Suicide and Self-Harm Research North West, or SSHaRe NoW, was launched in June 2017 with the aim of bringing together a wide range of stakeholders with a shared interested in suicide and self-harm research, from across the north-west of England.

We hope to encourage and support links and collaboration between researchers, clinicians, health services, third sector organisations, service users, and the public, by raising awareness of high quality suicide and self-harm research and initiatives in the local area.

We also want to create a positive collaborative space where we can share knowledge, expertise, and experience of all kinds, to help identify and develop key areas of research that may help improve services and reduce suicide and self-harm in the future.

Our aims for the next five years are to develop a shared set of priorities concerning research around suicide and self-harm in the north-west, and particularly to:

• provide an environment for researchers to share knowledge on the work they are involved in;
• create an opportunity for building on previous study findings;
• have the space to hold meetings to discuss ideas for future research;
• coproduce funding/grant applications;
• promote the benefits of how public and patients may be involved in research;
• enable the promotion of interactive materials developed for local initiatives to a wider audience.

Suicide and Self-Harm Research North West (SSHaRE NoW) 6th Annual Conference

The sixth annual Suicide and Self-Harm Research North-West (SSHARE NoW) conference brings together clinicians, individuals with lived experience, researchers, and academics in the field.

The conference aims to raise awareness of, and facilitate discussion about, research taking place in the Northwest of England about self-harm and suicide. This year the theme of the conference will be on crisis interventions and brief therapies for people who self-harm. The conference features a panel made up of experts-by-experience, clinicians and researchers who will be discussing this topic, and responding to questions from the audience. For the first time this year we are also inviting brief presentations from current postgraduate students undertaking work in this area.

Date and Time: 16th June 2023 from  09.30 to 16.30 BST
Venue: Roscoe Lecture Theatre B – Roscoe Building, University of Manchester, Brunswick Street, Manchester, M13 9PL

The full agenda for the day can be seen here.

Winner of the Zero Suicide Alliance Essay Competition 2021

The Zero Suicide Alliance (ZSA) is a members-led charity campaign hosted by Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust dedicated to preventing suicide.

They work in collaboration with NHS trusts, non-profit organisations, local authorities, businesses and individuals to raise awareness of suicide and its contributing factors.

In 2021 they held their first Essay Competition.

We were extremely impressed with the entries we received for this competition, from a diverse range of people. Competition entries were judged by a panel of members from the Suicide and Self-Harm Research North-West (SSHaRe NoW) network and the Zero Suicide Alliance.

Several essays were strong contenders, but the winning essay by Chloe Morris was unanimously selected by judges as the essay that best captured trends in self-harm and suicide during the pandemic, whilst showing a good understanding of the issues and constructing balanced arguments to articulate potential explanations for these trends.

See the winning entry here.