Our latest blog in this series features\u00a0Dr Leah Quinlivan and her team, who\u00a0were winners in the\u00a0Group category at the 2025 PPIE Awards.\u00a0Recognising the challenges of meaningful involvement in sensitive areas such as self-harm and suicide, the team co-designed an innovative toolkit to empower both researchers and public contributors, making PPIE safer, more accessible, and impactful.<\/i>\u00a0<\/p>\n Left to right: Jav Rehman, another highly commended recipient; Dr Leah Quinlivan, project lead and research fellow at the NIHR GM PSRC; Dan Stears, public contributor and Non-Executive Lay Board Member of the NIHR GM PSRC at the 2025 PPIE Celebration Event.<\/p><\/div>\n I<\/span>nvolving people with lived experience in self-harm and suicide research\u00a0<\/span>can feel daunting for researchers and healthcare professionals\u00a0<\/span>due to concer<\/span>n<\/span>s about safe<\/span>guarding<\/span>\u00a0and wellbeing.\u00a0<\/span><\/span>Dr Leah Quinlivan<\/span><\/span><\/a>\u00a0<\/span>and colleagues\u00a0<\/span><\/span>at\u00a0<\/span><\/span>Centre for Mental Health and Safety<\/span><\/span><\/a>\u00a0and the\u00a0<\/span><\/span>NIHR Greater Manchester Patient Safety Research Collaboration\u00a0<\/span>(<\/span>GM PSRC)<\/span><\/span><\/a>\u00a0<\/span>set out to change this narrative. Through collaboration with the public and PPI groups, they developed practical resources\u00a0<\/span>to build confidence among researchers while ensuring safety and support for everyone involved.<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The team included public contributors from the\u00a0Mutual Support for Mental Health-Research (MS4MH-R),<\/a>\u00a0a group of individuals with lived experience of self-harm, suicide or mental illness as patients or carers.\u00a0With funding from NIHR GM PSRC, the team co-designed a\u00a0suite of resources\u00a0to\u00a0provide guidance and advance PPIE in suicide prevention research.\u00a0These include:\u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Left to right: Elizabeth Monaghan, public contributor and member of the NIHR GM PSRC Public and Community Involvement and Engagement (PCIE) Advisory Group; Dr Leah Quinlivan; Dan Stears.<\/p><\/div>\n In\u00a0summer\u00a02024,\u00a0additional\u00a0funding from the Faculty\u2019s Office for Social Responsibility\u00a0enabled\u00a0the team\u00a0to host\u00a0a webinar\u00a0showcasing\u00a0their toolkit and resources.\u00a0It featured\u00a0insightful\u00a0talks from Dr Quinlivan, four MS4MH-R contributors, and included a session on\u00a0creative approaches to\u00a0involving young people in research. The event\u00a0attracted significant interest and achieved impressive reach:\u00a0<\/p>\n The team\u2019s resources are all available online\u00a0and are used internationally by organisations such as the\u00a0National Suicide Research Foundation<\/a>,\u00a0HSE Ireland<\/a>,\u00a0NHS Trusts<\/a>,\u00a0McPin\u00a0Foundation<\/a>, as well as universities across the UK,\u00a0Ireland\u00a0and Australia.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Additional\u00a0information:\u00a0<\/p>\n To find out more about PPIE: watch our\u202fshort film<\/a>, sign up to the monthly\u202fPublic Engagement Digest<\/a>, visit the\u202fPPIE blog<\/a>, or contact\u00a0srbmh@manchester.ac.uk<\/a>.\u202f\u202f\u202f\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blogs.manchester.ac.uk\/bmh-sr\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/178\/2026\/01\/Award-Ceremony-266x300.jpg\")
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