Effective support after a suicide is key to helping individuals, families and communities to recover. Support may come from a variety of places including the family or community, health or welfare professionals and other organisations. Because we are all individuals, we may all need different forms of support and at different times. Even when family and friends are wonderfully supportive, it can be helpful for survivors to have safe, private space where they can express themselves.
Much of the support available is provided through charity and voluntary organisations like ourselves. We provide a safe, confidential environment in which bereaved people can share their experiences and feelings, so giving and gaining support from each other. Our services are run by volunteers who have been bereaved by suicide. It is our experience that many people feel unable to share or don’t feel understood until they talk with another person who has also been bereaved by suicide.
We run support groups across the UK, a helpline and an email service which are based on the principle of self help and sharing (we do not provide counselling). We also provide information through our publications and this website. Order our support resources and signposting leaflets here.
Our services are only available to 18’s – we recommend people younger than this explore the range of organisations who can support under 18’s.
There is a range of support services available from other organisations that operate nationally and locally including counselling, listening services and crisis support. There is also a range of specialist support available for families, young adults and children.
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.