Kayla Cooley
PhD student in the Technological University of the Shannon (TUS) focusing on suicide.
In 2016 I co-founded a suicide intervention organisation, Community Crisis Response Team. I currently manage the day to day operations of the organisation. I’m also an active QPR instructor – I teach people about suicide, how to prevent it and how to intervene in suicide situations.
- Social Care Ireland Award for Academic Excellence
- LIT Research Fellow Scholarship recipient
- Students Union of Ireland Award for outstanding activism in mental health
- Graduated with honours – 1:1 BA (Hons) Social Care Work
- Successfully transferred from Masters studies to the PhD register 2022.
Current Work
Chairperson & Director – Community Crisis Response Team
Instructor – Driving Change Training & Consultancy – Suicide Response Trainer, Mental Health Workshops, Self Development Workshops.
Tutor – Technological University of the Shannon (Midwest)
Guest Lectures;
- Research Methods
- Suicide
- Suicide Prevention
- Community Development
- Suicide in the Community
- Intervention Approaches
- Productivity Systems
Current research
My current research focuses on suicide. Specifically exploring and analyzing data from a pro-suicide website.
My research gives me the opportunity to explore many topics that I find fascinating, topics like cybersuicide, suicide pacts, suicide contagion, suicide methods, suicide tourism, death & dying, dark tourism, internet studies, popular culture studies and much more.
Recent Work
- Presented at the International Conference on the Social Context of Death, Dying and Disposal: Diversity and Decolonisation September 2021. Presentation entitled – Apart in Life but Together in Death – A Content Analysis of Suicide Methods Chosen by People seeking Suicide Partners Online.
- Presented at the Shannon Region Postgraduate Conference in May 2021. Presentation entitled – Final Journeys, Beachy Head and Suicide.
- Presented at the Sociological Association of Ireland’s PG Annual Conference in February 2021. Presentation entitled – Apart in Life but Together in Death – A content analysis of suicide methods chosen by people who are seeking suicide partners online.
A couple of Twitter spaces I help run and promote
I help run two Twitter community hours with Caitriona Mc Mahon. We have Mental Health Hour that you can follow here and Trauma Hour which you can follow here. These Twitter communities connect professionals, advocates, bloggers and people with shared interests in these spaces from all over the world. You can check out more about both communities in the sidebar on the right.
Kayla Cooley 