Dr Jo Bell

Faculty and Department

  • Faculty of Health Sciences
  • School of Psychology and Social Work

Qualifications

  • BSc
  • PhD / DPhil

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.

Jo teaches on the BA and MA Social Work Programmes:

Loss Dying and Bereavement

Mental Health and Young People

Social Work Research and Dissertation (MA)

Human Development across the Lifespan

Recent outputs

View more outputs

Journal Article

Understanding impact and factors that improve postvention service delivery: findings from a study of a community-based suicide bereavement support service in England

Bell, J., Cunnah, K., & Earle, F. (online). Understanding impact and factors that improve postvention service delivery: findings from a study of a community-based suicide bereavement support service in England. Mortality, https://doi.org/10.1080/13576275.2024.2417299

More than signposting: Findings from an evaluation of a social prescribing service

White, C., Bell, J., Reid, M., & Dyson, J. (2022). More than signposting: Findings from an evaluation of a social prescribing service. Health and Social Care in the Community, https://doi.org/10.1111/hsc.13925

A Sort of Permanence: Digital Remains and Posthuman Encounters with Death

Segerstad, Y. H. A., Bell, J., & Yeshua-Katz, D. (2022). A Sort of Permanence: Digital Remains and Posthuman Encounters with Death. Conjunctions : Transdisciplinary Journal of Cultural Participation, 9(1), 1-12. https://doi.org/10.2478/tjcp-2022-0001

Presentation / Conference Contribution

Identifying Good Practice in a Community-based Postvention Support Service: Findings from a Mixed Methods Evaluation study in the UK

Bell, J., & Kent, J. (2023, September). Identifying Good Practice in a Community-based Postvention Support Service: Findings from a Mixed Methods Evaluation study in the UK. Presented at IASP 32nd World Congress, Piran, Slovenia

Understanding the Communicative Ecology and Impact of Social Media following a Suspected Suicide

Bell, J., & Westoby, C. (2023, September). Understanding the Communicative Ecology and Impact of Social Media following a Suspected Suicide. Presented at International Association for Suicide Prevention 32nd World Congress, Piran, Slovenia

Research interests

Suicide Prevention

Suicide-related Internet use

Young People's Mental Health

Trauma and Loss

Lead investigator

Project

Funder

Grant

Started

Status

Project

Partners in Practice

Funder

ERYC East Riding of Yorkshire Council

Grant

£109,062.00

Started

23 September 2019

Status

Complete

Project

Evaluation of the SMASH programme

Funder

HCC Hull City Council

Grant

£4,997.00

Started

1 April 2017

Status

Complete

Project

North East Lincolnshire Creating Safer Communities Research Project

Funder

North East Lincolnshire Council

Grant

£28,151.00

Started

1 July 2016

Status

Complete

Project

Suicide bereavement service evaluation

Funder

Humber, Coast and Vale Health and Care Partnership

Grant

£11,826.00

Started

1 July 2020

Status

Complete

Project

Social Media & Suicide Postvention Project

Funder

Humber Teaching NHS Foundation Trust

Grant

£9,807.00

Started

1 February 2021

Status

Complete

Co-investigator

Project

Funder

Grant

Started

Status

Project

NIHR Mental Health Research Group

Funder

NIHR National Institute for Health Research

Grant

£8,411,778.00

Started

1 November 2024

Status

Ongoing

Project

Healthy Mind Healthy You

Funder

NHS Hull Clinical Commissioning Group

Grant

£20,000.00

Started

1 November 2020

Status

Complete

Postgraduate supervision

Dr Bell is interested to hear from potential students who wish to undertake postgraduate research in any of her areas of interest. In particular she is interested in supervising research in young people's mental health, suicide and self-harm, suicide-related internet use, suicide bereavement, trauma and loss, contemporary death.

Current PhD supervisions

- Justine Krygier

- Naomi Shann

- Ellen Lapper

- Christine Wilson

Membership/Fellowship of professional body

Senior Fellow HEI

2016

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