Grieving and dealing with the changes that follow any death is never easy. However, those who are bereaved by suicide often feel particularly isolated at a time when they are in severe emotional pain. Indeed, when someone you know takes their own life it can leave you feeling so low that you may be vulnerable to thoughts of suicide yourself.
If that is your experience, it is nothing to be ashamed of and you are not alone. You may want to talk through these thoughts and feelings with someone you trust – a friend, someone in your family, perhaps with your GP or a trained volunteer from organisations specialising in bereavement support.
Lifecraft offers a Suicide Bereavement Support Service which is available to family and friends in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough. For more information please contact fiona@lifecraft.org.uk or call 01223 566957.
Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust (CPFT) offer Bereavement Support Group Meetings. These are normally held on the second Monday evening of each month between 6pm – 7.30pm at Quaker Meeting House, 21 Thorpe Road, Peterborough, PE3 6AB. However, please ring 01733 776080 to check these details before attending. You can find full details about the group here.
Other organisations which specialise in bereavement support are the Survivors of Bereavement by Suicide (SOBS) and Cruse. Please click here to download the Cruse Bereavement Care fact sheet Support for people bereaved by suicide.
Cruse has also launched Hope Again – a youth website where young people who are facing grief can share their stories with others and find information about available services.
Help is at Hand is a guide offering practical and emotional support for people bereaved by suicide. More info: www.supportaftersuicide.org.uk
Cambridge Cruse also offers a group for those bereaved by suicide which meets the first Wednesday of every month at the Friends’ Meeting House on Jesus Lane at 7.30pm (no meeting in August).
A support group for parents bereaved through suicide, set up by Rosie Wilson under the umbrella of The Campassionate Friends, meets in Cambridge on the first Tuesday of every month from 7.30-9.30pm. For more information please contact Rosie: p.wilson34@ntlworld.com
Finally, Public Health England (PHE) has recently published Support after a suicide: A guide to providing local services, which offers practical advice for commissioners to understand why and how they can deliver support after suicide in their local areas.
PHE has also supported further guidance by NSPA and Support after Suicide to develop and deliver local bereavement support services and to evaluate local bereavement support services.