Official page for Not The Void UK

A beautiful handmade bowl from Wavering Pines with a pink card and a holo heart that says you are not a burden. Shells and rocks by a navy blue beeswax candle, behind a print of Wendy Copes poem the orange, text reads 'I love you, I am glad I exist.'

Our Sunday meeting is starting soon so the candle of remembrance is lit for everybody and everything we've lost to suicide, and to the bright spark of hope, stubbornness and spite that we draw on to survive.

You are not a burden. You are not alone.

A place to talk freely about suicide We are a group of people living alongside experiences of suicide who seek to find meaningful connections and understanding within that experience. We are not a pro suicide space and do not discuss,...

You can register via our website here
www.notthevoid.uk

Monochrome illustration by Pheladii, of a young person in baggy clothes sat on a couch, a streetlamp light is dampened by deep darkness.

Our next meeting is on Sunday the 8th Feb at 3pm GMT. We provide a compassionate, non clinical, confidential space to share your own experiences of suicide in a group of peers who listen, understand and respect your unique perspective. If you're feeling desperate, don't carry that alone.

"Suicidality is a deadly condition and we take it on with honesty, heart, and a little existentialism." From John Moe & Clancy Martin, philosophy professor, fiction writer, and author of the memoir How Not to Kill Yourself: A Portrait of the Suicidal Mind.'

maximumfun.org/episodes/dep...

Thank you for asking me so I can clarify, I know we live with a lot of uncertainty amd losing anyone in our mad community is a big loss.

Someone whose death I learned of recently, but not a recent death in our mad community known to me.

A dark blue and a small pink candle, a pink holographic orgami star, a circular card with two hands reaching through darkness with a rainbow connecting them.

Our remembrance candles are lit for everybody and everything we've lost to #suicide and in solidarity with everyone suffering in a world that's hard to live in. Today, I am honouring Nicole's memory and everyone in occupied states right now. ♡

A place to talk freely about suicide We are a group of people living alongside experiences of suicide who seek to find meaningful connections and understanding within that experience. We are not a pro suicide space and do not discuss,...

You can find info about our meetings here and resources, including our group agreement and bios of our co facilitators and members. Contact us via our webform.

www.notthevoid.uk

We gather together for
• frank conversation
• mutual peer support
• responding to injustice and resisting the oppressive forces on our lives.
• expressions of emotion.
• companionship silences.

Two pink brains with tangled cords emerging and two plugs near to connecting. Image from https://unsplash.com/illustrations/confused-thoughts-connecting-in-a-tangled-mess-tT3Gowd2AxE

This Sunday, Heather and Inge are holding space for people to speak about their own experiences of suicide; how you feel, what's making life unlivable, what meaning (or not) you make of it. We'll offer you compassionate, respectful support at your comfort level. /1

A place to talk freely about suicide We are a group of people living alongside experiences of suicide who seek to find meaningful connections and understanding within that experience. We are not a pro suicide space and do not discuss,...

You can get in touch to register for a meeting via our website here, a co facilitator will be in touch with the link and more details. We don't do intake assessing and we don't need to ask about the details or level of suicidal you feel: it all counts to us.

www.notthevoid.uk

A stock illustration of a person holding an umbrella to shield another person who is on the floor, curled up in pain.

Our new dates for Not the Void are now available, Sunday meetings at 3pm GMT are:

25th Jan
8th Feb
22nd Feb
8th March 
22nd March
5th April (Easter Sunday)
19th April 
3rd May
17th May

A place to talk freely about suicide We are a group of people living alongside experiences of suicide who seek to find meaningful connections and understanding within that experience. We are not a pro suicide space and do not discuss,...

You can get in touch to register for a meeting via our website here, a co facilitator will be in touch with the link and more details. We don't do intake assessing and we don't need to ask about the details or level of suicidal you feel: it all counts to us.

www.notthevoid.uk

A stock illustration of a person holding an umbrella to shield another person who is on the floor, curled up in pain.

Our new dates for Not the Void are now available, Sunday meetings at 3pm GMT are:

25th Jan
8th Feb
22nd Feb
8th March 
22nd March
5th April (Easter Sunday)
19th April 
3rd May
17th May

Not the Void UK sprang from the desire to be different and we continue to stand with our members, affirming that suicidal people deserve care, compassion and freedom from abuse in all forms.

Honest, authentic conversations about suicide should not place people at risk of being supplied with means to end their lives. People who wish to talk about their suicidal experiences deserve spaces they can trust to be free of coercion and predatory exploitation.

We have radical safeguarding and data privacy policies that mean we can support members. We're prepared for situations where somebody feels they are at risk of online harassment or exploitation.

Man jailed for selling chemicals online to assist suicide in UK-first case Miles Cross sentenced to 14 years in prison for selling the substance to four people via an online suicide forum

Our co facilitator team are alert and proactive in ensuring Not the Void meetings are spaces where you will not be targeted by individuals who wish to exploit you. We recognise the vulnerable nature of seeking mutual peer support.
/1

www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...

A place to talk freely about suicide We are a group of people living alongside experiences of suicide who seek to find meaningful connections and understanding within that experience. We are not a pro suicide space and do not discuss,...

Today our cofacilitator team are meeting up to plan the meeting dates for 2026, they'll be posted on our website and socials soon.

We do have a meeting on the 11th Jan 3pm GMT, if you wanted peer support and understanding around your own suicidal experiences.

www.notthevoid.uk

It's strange that this tradition has continued beyond those odd times when the usual loneliness and alienation of the season had the pandemic layered over it. I find it comforting to have an anchor point to return to each Xmas.

Mad Covid Visit the post for more.

Tomorrow, Not the Void UK members meet to share a bit of chat and drink a coffee together over zoom. Our Xmas morning zoom is a tradition that predates our group, during Xmas 2020 and 21 when Boris put in last minute lockdowns, us MadCovid #Madsky folx met on zoom
madcovid.wordpress.com

The Radical Queer Therapist Sage M Stephanou | Anti-Oppressive Training & Facilitation

A huge thank you (and recommendation) to Sage Stephanou, The Radical Queer Therapist who provided Heather with supervision this Summer.
www.theradicalqueertherapist.com

Thank you also to the National User Survivor Network, whose power mapping and Disability Justice with Makan workshops and funding supported us. Also to Naomi Salisbury for hosting a brilliant self harm themed community of practice group.

It's been a year of growth and sharing power together and I'm incredibly grateful to everyone who has been a part of Not the Void UK in 2025 and is facing 2026 with suicidal feelings alongside them.

We showed up each fortnight to support each other and nobody called the police or authorities on anyone. We made art. We shared resources. We made collective group decisions, renaming ourselves and switching our webhost away from Wix to show solidarity with the Palestinian people.

We explored themes such as hope, ambivalence, the traumatic aftermath of surviving an attempt, building supoort networks, abuse, advanced directives, the inadequacy of academic research that isn't user led, the intersection of being bereaved by suicide and being suicidal ourselves.

A graphic of a silhouetted head with a cage in their mind, a small figure sits curled up in the mind cage.

Not the Void UK spent 45 hours in 2025 talking about all the unique and common experiences of suicide we share. We held over 30+ meetings. 6 facilitators from 4 different countries gave their time to hold space. Over a 100 people reached out to join us for a meeting this year #suicide

We are meeting on Christmas Day at 11:30am for a 'no enforced jollity' coffee hangout and then we have our last Sunday peer support meeting at 3pm on the 28th December with Inge and Amanda holding space.

Of course, we might just decide not to make a list and instead spend the time chatting instead. Whatever we end up doing, it's nourishing to have a place to hang out without having to put on a front.

An illustrative image of a person holding an umbrella under a raincloud and offering a hand to another person who is hunched up sat in a ball.

Or that honouring a persons pain means never looking to solutions, only listening. Being in a chosen healing community together means we can share what works (and vent about doesn't) without pushing anybody toward moving through their pain already.