New Resource – Supporting a young person bereaved by suicide
Supporting Young People After Suicide
Telling a Young Person of a Death By suicide
- Keep it truthful and consistent—It might be hard to say but say it. Give correct information in a loving, direct and compassionate way
- Encourage them to talk about it and ask questions whenever they need to.
- Understand the grieving process.
- Young people will often want to spend time together, so allow them time.
Resources
headspace have a number of factsheets about youth suicide
Suicide and Greif fact sheet by Beyond Blue
JSS Support After Suicide has a website with a range of resources and links
What Can I do?
Show a willingness to listen. It may be distressing, but you’re not expected to provide answers. Instead, you can be a comforting, safe place for someone who desperately needs to talk.
- Be aware of your own grief and feelings of helplessness.
- Understand the grieving process. Don’t put a limit on grief and healing/. Reassure them that grief is a normal response to loss and there is no wrong or right way to grieve.
- Make opportunities to share memories or look at photos of the person who has died. Say the persons name.
- Spend time with the young person. Just sitting quietly and allowing them to talk, cry or be silent. Listen with non-judgmental compassion
- Acknowledge and believe the young person’s pain and distress. Try not to panic in the absence or presence of strong emotional responses.
Resources
JSS Support After Suicide has a Fact sheet on Supporting young people after a suicide
headspace have written a fact sheet specifically for parents supporting someone after a suicide
Bereavement Support
| Service | Contact details | Support Offered |
| Hope Bereavement Care | Call(03) 4215 or contact us via hope@bereavement.org.au or on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/hopebereavementcare/ | Offers free information, support and counselling for those experiencing loss after suicide |
| headspace geelong | Headspace Geelong has 3 service sites at Corio, Drysdale and Geelong
|
Phone: (03) 5222 6690
headspacegeelong@bcyf.org.au |
| eheadspace | eheadspace provides online counselling
and telephone support to young people aged 12 to 25 |
www.eheadspace.org.au
1800 650 890 |
Online and Telephone Support
If you need immediate or additional support the following services provide online and telephone support.
| Service | Contact details | |
| Kids Helpline | Phone: 1800 55 1800
|
Kids Helpline provides telephone and online counselling for Australian children and young people aged between 5 and 25 years. |
| Lifeline | Phone: 13 11 14
National Bereaved by Suicide Line Phone: 1300 467 354 Life Line Text 6pm-12am 0477 13 11 14. |
Lifeline provides all Australians experiencing a personal crisis with access to 24-hour crisis support and suicide prevention services. |
| Suicide Callback Service | Phone: 1300 659 467 | The Suicide Call Back Service provides telephone, video and online counselling to people at risk of suicide, carers of someone who is suicidal and those bereaved by suicide across Australia. |
| Suicideline Victoria | Phone: 1300 651 251
https://www.suicideline.org.au/phone-and-online-counselling/ |
SuicideLine Victoria is a 24/7 telehealth provider that offers free professional phone and online counselling for people living in Victoria. |