By Ruairi Blake (Researcher)
Harmless is delighted to announce the publication of the Executive Summary from its latest research project.
Research at Harmless primarily focuses on two overarching goals. The first is to understand how the services we provide can be improved to better meet our clients’ needs. The second — which was foundational to this study — is to explore the why of what we do: going beyond the fact that people require our services, and investigating how individuals reach crisis. This study focused on how the day-to-day experiences of LGBTQIA+ neurodivergent people contribute to suicidal feelings, and how their unique identities shape their experiences with mental healthcare.
Previous research has shown that being LGBTQIA+ and Neurodivergent are both traits that make people more likely to become suicidal due to Minority Stress (the cumulative effect of discrimination and stigma). They also overlap significantly, creating an intersectional identity sometimes referred to as Neuroqueer, but how the overlapping Minority Stress of these two identities affects suicidal crisis and interactions with healthcare has been underexplored.
This study was conducted through interviews. Nine participants — representing a variety of LGBTQIA+ identities and neurodivergent experiences — were asked about their experiences with suicide and mental healthcare. Six overarching themes emerged, which are outlined in the Executive Summary. The key takeaways include:
- There are shared experiences of feeling different to your non-neuroqueer peers
- Self-discovery and self-actualisation are powerful tools to combat negative feelings, and we could help by discussing LGBTQIA+ and ND more openly, and tackling the stigma
- Community is important, especially with those who have similar experiences
- The current state of mental healthcare in this country makes helping neuroqueer people particularly difficult, especially in terms of accessibility.
- Mental health practitioners need to remain aware of the unique difficulties experienced by neuroqueer service users, and be mindful not to add to their stresses.
While each participant’s account has given us much to reflect on, one key message stands out — something Harmless has said before, but which always bears repeating: advocacy, education, and combatting stigma are suicide prevention. Whether we apply this in clinical settings to make services more accessible and inclusive, or in our everyday lives by actively supporting friends, family and colleagues, creating spaces where people can be their authentic selves — without shame or prejudice — is vital in preventing suicide, particularly among the most vulnerable.
