Time Space Compassion in suicide prevention - practice stories - Volume 2

5. Suicide Bereavement Support Service

The Suicide Bereavement Support Service is a Scottish Government pilot being delivered in partnership by Change Mental Health and Penumbra Mental Health. It offers free, confidential, one-to-one support for anyone who has been impacted by a death by suicide in Highlands, Argyll & Bute, and Ayrshire & Arran. The service is available to people who live in these areas or to those impacted by a suicide within the area but who live elsewhere. Support can be face to face or over the phone, and is available for as long as it’s needed. This service is only one example of suicide bereavement support that takes place in communities across Scotland.

“Our service gently helps people to navigate the many and complex feelings and emotions that can follow a suicide” (Lara, Change Mental Health)

5.1 Our challenge

People bereaved by suicide are significantly more likely to have suicidal thoughts and behaviours than the wider population. This service offers tailored support, helping to reduce distress, stigma, and their risk of suicide. Our challenge was to build on learning from the experiences of members of the National Suicide Lived Experience Panel and existing research, to develop and deliver an easily accessible service that would work across urban and rural communities. We also wanted to capture learning and data from this work, in a way that would support the growth of suicide bereavement support across Scotland.

5.2 Our response

Local connections were made with Police Scotland, GP practices and other health professionals in order to support easy access to the service. Referrals were initially received from Police Scotland with other pathways opening as the service was embedded in the areas. All referrals are received via one telephone number and email address for each delivery area, and responded to within 24-hours. Care was taken to understand and respond to the particular factors that increase someone’s risk of suicide across the differing communities, such as easier access to some of the common means of suicide, the impacts of rural deprivation, and the draw of remote and beautiful places for those with an active suicide plan. As providers of existing services, both Change Mental Health and Penumbra had a ready-made network of local connections to build on and raise awareness of the service.

5.3 Learning from practice

Listening and responding – fear of saying the wrong thing, stigma and self-stigma can disrupt a person’s existing support networks, making it hard to find a safe space to make sense of what’s happened. We have worked to develop simple and clear messaging and ways for people to get in contact with our projects. The teams are highly experienced in both compassionate listening and supporting people to resolve additional issues that might be adding to their distress and feelings of grief.

Building relationship – being able to talk without fear of judgement or upsetting us, learning that they are not alone in feeling the way they do, and knowing that we are there for them when and for however long they need us – these things build trust and help people move through complex grief. Wherever we can, we also try to ensure people are supported by the same person over time, as their story and their experience has a big impact on how we tailor our support for them. Everyone’s grief journey is different, so it’s crucial to have a flexible, responsive and person-centred approach.

Being clear and consistent – The overwhelming nature of grief following a suicide means our messaging and offer needs to be extremely clear. Communicating clearly that we’re a compassionate and professional service targeted for them, can help reduce people’s fear of stigma and judgement. Developing our service with people who have lived experience has been core to getting that right. It's also important that local partners, such as Police, GPs and wider primary/community care partners (e.g. Link Workers, as well as community based and third sector organisations) know what we do and where to find us. Embedding different referral routes helped raise awareness of the service and increase numbers of people accessing support.

5.4 Impact

A 3-year evaluation of this service is due for publication in 2024, but the original 2-year pilot evaluation published on the Scottish Government website, highlighted the importance people place on the approach, skills and quality of staff; the consistency of working with one practitioner; that there is no waiting time to access the service, and that there is no time limit on the support that a service user can receive.

The independent evaluation also highlighted the positive impact on people’s emotional and mental well-being, as well as the extent to which they feel they can cope with returning to day-to-day life and activities. For some, this impact has been profound, with feedback suggesting that it has made the difference between them living, or not.

“the suicide of my son was devastating. The support I have received from the Suicide Bereavement Support Service has been invaluable in enabling me to find the strength to rebuild my life and my heart.”

(person supported through the service)

Find out more and contact the Change Mental Health Suicide Bereavement Service Team through their website Suicide Bereavement Support Service - Change Mental Health (changemh.org) and Penumbra’s Ayrshire & Arran service at their website Suicide Bereavement Support Service - Penumbra Mental Health