Summary
Dr Jo Bell is a social scientist dedicated to research that seeks to understand adversity and human experience and research that makes a difference to the lives of vulnerable people, particularly young people. Her research integrates three main strands: mental health, suicide prevention, and trauma and loss.
Over recent years, Dr Bell's focus has been on suicide (postvention and prevention) and young people's mental health and well-being. She has published on the subject of mental health, self-harm, suicide, bereavement, and suicide-related internet use, including online suicide memorialisation and the use of social media in the aftermath of a suicide. She has researched how social media and other digital practices are used to manage grief after traumatic loss, and what we can learn from user experiences about the changing face of contemporary death, dying and bereavement.
She has been the Principle Investigator on a range projects supported by the Wellcome Trust, Department of Health, and NHS. She is a member of the International Association for Suicide Prevention and the International Death Online Research Network. Her work has been recognised internationally and has contributed to evidence based national postvention training and local safeguarding training, World Health Organisation guidelines on suicide and media reporting, regional suicide prevention strategies, policy and commissioning planning for accessible adolescent mental health services.