Lived Experience

People with Lived Experience

We believe that people with lived experience of suicide—whether they’ve had thoughts of suicide, made an attempt, or lost someone they love—are essential hearts and voices in shaping how we prevent suicide and support others.

Their stories, strength, leadership and wisdom help us create programs and tools that truly make a difference. By working side by side with people who’ve been there, we build hope and solutions that reflect the heart of our community.

Peers with Lived Experience

Peers with Lived Experience(PWLE) are individuals who have their own lived experience with suicidal crisis, mental illness, and/or recovery. They are trained to use that experience to support others. Unlike clinical staff, peers offer a perspective that a therapist or doctor often cannot: they have truly ‘been there and done that.’

We respect and value the lived experiences of individuals and families. NAASP wants to work alongside people with lived experience to advance suicide prevention strategies that are meaningful and effective.
We think people with lived experience are well positioned to support the development of tools, documents, protocols and other products that are culturally relevant for underserved communities.
The NAASP invites people with lived experience into a shared leadership collaboration with our stakeholders for strategic planning and co-creating equity-driven initiatives.
We believe applied expertise forums elevate lived experience in systems design and policy.