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Sarah Cassidy
Associate Professor
School of Psychology at the University of Nottingham, UK.
Dr. Sarah Cassidy is an Associate Professor in the School of Psychology at the University of Nottingham, UK. She leads a research program aiming to better understand and prevent self-harm and suicide in partnership with autistic people and those who support them. Her work was the first to identify high rates of suicidal thoughts and behaviours in autistic adults. Since then, she worked in partnership with the autism community to develop an internationally respected set of recommendations to prevent suicide in autistic people, which have been incorporated into government policy and clinical practice. The excellence and impact of her research and partnership working have been recognised with a number of prestigious awards from the International Society for Autism Research, Autistica, the National Autistic Society and University of Nottingham. .
Understanding and preventing suicide in partnership with autistic people
Autistic people are at greater risk of contemplating, attempting, and dying by suicide than non-autistic people. However, there is little research into why, and how suicide could be prevented in this group.
This presentation will discuss progress against the autism communities priorities for suicide prevention. Specifically: 1) understanding the risk factors for suicide in autistic people; 2) the best ways of assessing suicidal thoughts and behaviours in autistic people; and 3) adapting interventions to better prevent suicide in autistic people.
I will also discuss the next steps for research and practice to better understand, assess and prevent suicide in partnership with autistic people and those who support them.