Public Health officers and representatives from mental health charity Mind Jersey recently worked together to support a workshop of local people with experience of bereavement.
The findings from the workshop are now helping to shape the improvement of support – including a pilot programme of peer support for relatives and friends following the death by suicide of someone close to them.
World Suicide Prevention Day takes place on Monday and this year it features the theme of working together.
The director of public health policy and chairman of the prevention of suicide steering group, Martin Knight, said: ‘When somebody takes their own life it is a devastating event. It is not just an individual tragedy but can be a life-altering event for those bereaved and a traumatic event for the involved communities and services.
‘The impacts are immediate and profoundly distressing, as well as long-lasting. Working collectively to better connect and communicate across our community can help support those protective factors that can help to avert the catastrophe of a suicide attempt.’
Mind Jersey executive director James Le Feuvre said: ‘We believe there is a significant gap in the provision of support for people bereaved by suicide and that there is a role for a volunteer peer support worker, with experience in this area, to meet this need.
‘This peer-to-peer support would be delivered to complement, and not replace, appropriate professional input. With sufficient resources Mind Jersey believes its existing family and carers support service would be well placed to host and oversee this provision.’
