Suicide prevention is one of the most complex challenges in public health - but what happens when we stop treating it as an individual issue and start seeing it as a system?

In this episode of It Depends, Matt and Tenille speak with Dr Maria Michail, Associate Professor at the University of Birmingham, whose pioneering work bridges psychology, systems science, and participatory research.

Together we unpack what it means to move “from authority to authenticity”, exploring how authentic approaches to working with young people in research, systems modelling, and new ways of thinking can reshape how we understand and respond to complexity.

Featuring insights from research innovative work, this conversation challenges the assumptions of safety, power, and expertise - and invites us to rethink how complex problems are best approached.

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Below are some of the papers that Maria references in the episode:

• An evaluation of the feasibility, value and impact of using participatory modelling to inform the development of a regional system dynamics model for youth suicide prevention
• Youth partnership in suicide prevention research: moving beyond the safety discourse
• Unleashing the Potential of Systems Modeling and Simulation in Supporting Policy-Making and Resource Allocation for Suicide Prevention