This section provides information for professionals who come into contact with and who provide support to people who have been bereaved by suicide. Effective support after a suicide, known as “postvention” is key to helping people to recover and to preventing further suicides happening within the family and community.
When someone dies by suicide, a large number of agencies may become involved and will have contact with the bereaved family and friends. This includes the police, paramedics, coroners or procurator fiscals, media, health professionals, funeral directors, faith leaders, counsellors and members of other voluntary organisations. Every interaction provides an opportunity to support the bereaved and help to lessen their sense of isolation.
You may work in a community which has been affected by a suicide – this could be a workplace, an educational establishment, a prison, a housing project or any other organisation. Managing the emotional and practical impacts in the days, weeks, months and even years afterwards is an important part of recovery.
In this section you can find out more about the needs of those bereaved by suicide, the support available and how you can help.
Although we do not take referrals from organisations or individuals, we will provide information to help agencies signpost to our support services.
We can also provide education and training for you and your team.
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.