Black Country Support After Suicide
Community
About our service
We are service based within the Black Country providing a range of support to those affected by bereavement by suicide.
We provide support for next of kin and close family members who are bereaved by suicide in the Black Country of any age including children and young people.
Our core opening hours are Monday - Friday 10am-6pm. We can also provide support up to 8pm, weekdays or at weekends, so that you can access us at a time that suits you best.
Our staff and volunteer team is made up of people from a range of different and diverse backgrounds with a range of different personal and professional experience. Some of our staff team and volunteers have personal experience of bereavement by suicide and this helps inform our approach and delivery of the service.
If you need a translator or interpreter in order to access our service then please get in touch with us to discuss your needs.
You can download our referral form and publicity materials here
- Referral Form - in a word format or a PDF format
- Poster
- Leaflet
About why we are here
We know that when someone close to us dies, the grief that is experienced can bring about a range of powerful and complex feelings.
We also know that each person's experience of bereavement is unique to them but when someone dies by suicide, the powerful feelings become more complex, increase considerably and bring about many other practical issues to deal with.
We know that people bereaved by suicide need support at the time that is right for them – we support people at any stage of bereavement, including immediately after your loss or in the longer term when you feel ready to access support.
How to refer and access support
You can refer yourself or someone else can refer you to us.
You can call our Black Country 24/7 helpline to make a referral to us on 0800 008 6516 or email us at blackcountrysupportaftersuicide@rethink.org
We aim to make the referral process as easy as possible. You can complete a referral form & return this to us or we can complete the form on your behalf following a conversation so we can understand your needs.
You can download our referral form and publicity materials here
- Referral Form - in a word format or a PDF format
- Poster
- Leaflet
What support do we offer?
One to One Practical and Emotional Support
This is provided through face to face sessions, online, telephone or Whatsapp. We provide support in a way that will help you most.
The one to one support is provided by a Suicide Bereavement Worker and is offered across 6 personalised weekly support sessions. This is followed by 6 fortnightly sessions, with the option to extend support if needed.
After your one to one sessions end, we provide monthly check-in sessions and we provide support on key anniversary dates, if you would find this helpful.
A little bit more about the one to one support we provide:
- Space to talk about your bereavement and explore ways in which you might be able to cope and find ways of dealing with your loss.
- Emotional support that is tailored specifically to your unique situation and bereavement.
- Signposting & referral to other services.
- Practical support including help to navigate processes e.g. police, funeral arrangements, inquests, dealing with the media, notifying companies of the death and support to talk to your employer or education provider.
- Advocacy to help you have your voice heard and speak out.
- Written information and resources about bereavement by suicide.
Bereavement Counselling
We provide suicide bereavement counselling for between 6-8 weekly sessions with the option to extend to an additional 8 fortnightly sessions if needed.
Our qualified counsellor is registered with the BACP.
If you need additional counselling, we can signpost you onto further counselling services.
Bereavement Peer Support Groups
A provide closed support groups with a maximum of 6 participants. The group is facilitated by a Suicide Bereavement Worker and a volunteer with lived experience of bereavement by suicide. Groups are offered once each week for 12 sessions, lasting up to one and a half hours.
The groups provide:
- A safe and supportive space to discuss and explore, without judgment, the impact of your bereavement upon yourself, your family and those you connect with.
- Share stories and experiences in a safe environment.
- Gain peer support and build connections with others
Find us on Facebook
You can follow us on facebook here
Useful Resources, Training and Factsheets
We have collated information on a range of downloadable useful booklets, factsheets, online training courses about suicide bereavement.
This includes
- How to cope with suicidal thoughts
- How to help someone else who is feeling suicide
- How to cope with dealing with loss after bereavement by suicide
- Help is at Hand Booklet
You can view them by clicking here.
We have also created some blogs on social media around different aspects of bereavement which you can read here:
We obtained a grant from the Department of Health Social Care Suicide Prevention Fund to create suicide bereavement literature into other languages
The grant helped us to translate the English version of the Suicide - Coping With Loss factsheet into the 10 most spoken non-English languages in the UK. This is to make sure that people from BAME communities and people whose nationality is not English have access to bereavement information in their own language. The new languages include Arabic, Spanish, French, Bengali, Gujarati, Punjabi, Urdu, Polish, Portuguese and Chinese.
The link above takes you to the English version that can be read online or downloaded into a PDF. If you scroll down to the overview section you will see clickable links to download the factsheet in the non English languages.
We want to know who has accessed these translated factsheets and its usefulness. So we would be extremely grateful if you could complete this anonymous survey which takes less than 5 minutes to complete.
Other Services and Organisations
We have produced a list of other services, helplines and organisations may be of use to you and you can find out about these by clicking on this link
What do you think of us?
Friends & Family Test
We really value the feedback of people who come into contact with our service.
You can visit this link to complete one quick question anonymously to let us know your views.
Select “West Midlands” from the Region drop down box and then select 'Black Country Support After Suicide Service' to enter your feedback.
Alternatively you can give us feedback by
- emailing us at blackcountrysupportaftersuicide@rethink.org
- speaking to one of our team in a group or 121 support session
- making a complaint on our website here