Help us
“Our work takes a lot of love, time, and energy.
We need all the help we can find.”
There are many things you could do today to help us reach more people. If you’re really pushed for time, could you just help us get the word out about what we do? If you’d like to get more involved, perhaps fundraising or volunteering is for you?
On this page, we’ll take you through the things you could do which can make the biggest difference to people trying to survive bereavement by suicide.
Spread the word
Many people have never heard of us – many will never need our help and most cannot imagine that a suicide will ever affect them.
But when it happens, it is so important that they get the right help and support.
When a suicide happens, there are a number of organisations and professions that the bereaved may come into contact with. We know that when these people know about us, they share our details with those who have been bereaved.
Help us by spreading the word and raising awareness about us.
If you are a professional or individual working to support those bereaved or impacted by suicide loss, then we have a range of resources available for you to order free of charge. These may be useful to those working in the following professions:
GPs and health professionals
Funeral directors
Police
Coroners
Join our amazing fundraisers
Could you be part of the amazing team of people who help to raise thousands of pounds for us each year?
Fundraising efforts can be big or small – but every single one makes a huge difference to people whose lives have been devastated by suicide.
Get inspired by stories from some of our fundraisers.
Create your own sponsorship page in a jiffy, through Just Giving.
Raise money for your local support group, or for the national SoBS charity.
We can offer marketing support – e.g. blank posters, paper sponsorship forms and social media shout outs.
Every day, every year people do incredible things to raise money for us so that we can continue to support people whose lives have been devastated by suicide.
For more information contact fundraiser@uksobs.org
Become a volunteer
Our volunteers, have lost a loved one to suicide, they are a fantastic team who help to change lives…. they understand.
Local Support Groups
We run local support groups at locations around the UK – and we are always looking to open more. Groups meet once a month, are open to anyone over 18, and offer a vital opportunity for people to meet with others who have been bereaved by suicide.
Answering the Support Line
We operate a national Support Line, open from 9am to 7pm, Monday to Wednesday. We take calls from anyone who is over 18 and it is an opportunity for people to talk with someone who has been bereaved by suicide.
Great Support Line volunteers do more listening than talking, are comfortable listening to the experiences of others, and pay attention to their own well-being and boundaries.
Since losing our son Jonathan to suicide in May 2011, we have done quite a lot of fundraising. We have held boot sales, stalls at fetes, skydives and many, many raffles.
In 2005 we tragically lost Fee – beloved wife and mother, when she took her own life. The shock and loss was enormous and it wasn’t until 2009 when we discovered Survivors of Bereavement by Suicide. This charity has helped all three of us, in different ways, in coming to terms with such a painful loss. It is a loss that you never get over, but their involvement in our lives has helped us to move on but not forget.