Hull: Bereaved by Suicide Event

Description

There will be an event to held to aid and develop a “Bereavement by suicide service” in Hull, North Lincolnshire and North East Lincolnshire. This event is organised by Humber Coast & Vale.

They are delighted to announce that Shirley Smith, who lost her son to suicide and is the director of the “if you care share foundation”, will be opening the event.

“Any individual death, especially a death by suicide, can affect many, many people, like ripples on the surface of a pond. Many people are sad and distressed after a death by suicide, and you don’t have to be a family member or friend of the person who has died to be deeply affected.”For instance, you may be:

• Work colleague (including ex-work colleague, fellow volunteer)
• School, college or university student or staff
• Health professional (e.g. nurse, mental health staff, doctor counsellor)- You may have developed a very close relationship to the person, especially if you supported them through crises
• Emergency services ( e.g. paramedic, ambulance, fire, police, staff)- you may have been first on the scene and tried to save someone
• Police and prison staff who may have had to break the new to a devastated family or you may have found the person who died
• Railway staff and British transport police- you may have tried to prevent the death or may have needed to handle what happened afterwards
• Passer-by- you may have witnessed the death, or seen the immediate aftermath
• Social media contact (e.g. Facebook friend, Twitter follower)- Just because your contact was through the internet, it doesn’t mean it wasn’t important

They would like to ask you some questions:

• What are the needs of people bereaved by suicide or affected by suicide (this may include training)?
• How did your needs differ at different time points?

They realise how difficult it is for people who have lost someone to suicide to talk about it, and the range of emotions that come along with this, for this reason there will be people at the event who are able to support you.

They also know that people with lived experience are the best people to help shape the service but to also deliver the service, so on the day they will be asking if people would be interested in becoming a volunteer for this service, there will be training and supervision provided for all before the service is set up.

Lastly they would also like to reduce the stigma of suicide and to support our communities in being able to:

• Spot the signs
• Speak about suicide
• Signpost onward

You can do this by visiting www.talksuicide.co.uk and watching the 20 minute training, 20 minutes to watch the video, 20 minutes to save a life.

There will be refreshments on the day.