The Symposium is held biannually and brings together researchers from across Europe to share learning on suicide research and prevention and explore opportunities for future collaboration. Among the many issues raised at the symposium is the pressing need for more research on men’s mental health, as well as gendered interventions to address their suicide prevention needs.

Amanda presented findings from her PhD, which combined a secondary analysis of data from the Belfast Youth Development Study (BYDS) and interviews with adolescent boys and young men from working-class communities in Belfast. One of the posters presented the new Andrizo Integrated Conceptual Framework for understanding how risk-taking and gender expectations influence the development of suicidal risk in adolescent males. The other shared findings related to the roles of friendships, role models, and community organisation in the protection of young men’s mental health, including the importance of youth workers as both behavioural health supports and community violence interrupters.