SUICIDE PREVENTION
SUICIDE PREVENTION AND SUPPORT
““When someone takes their life, it is like a bomb exploding in the family lounge room.
The shrapnel lodges in each person differently and stays with them for
years to come.”
”
Suicide is devastating. The traumatic impact this has on family members and friends of the person who has died by suicide can be distressing and extensive. People left behind by suicide are often known as suicide survivors and while this is hard, it is possible with time and appropriate help and support to recover, learn and begin to thrive.
Working Together To Reduce Suicide
Our loss, grief and bereavement counselling services, small group support for families experiencing loss and informative suicide prevention workshop strategies are aimed to prevent suicide by:
Prevention
Starting the hard conversations with sensitivity, care and compassion
Addressing and helping resolve issues causing the suicidal ideation
Working collaboratively within the community services and agencies - with family GP, significant others for best outcomes
Developing better communication and relating skills with the individual, family, neighbourhood and the systems around them.
Establishing significant community connections and mental health supports
Informing, educating, resourcing the individual families and significant others
Suicide Effects on the Mental Health of Family and Friends
Unfortunately, friends and family of those who have committed suicide experience impacts on their own mental health.
The symptoms of grief and loss after a loved one dies by suicide can be devastating and even life-altering. In fact, family members of someone who has committed suicide even have a higher rate of mental illness after the death. Suicide grief runs the gamut from trauma to anger to denial and is worsened by the stigma that surrounds deaths by suicide.
Help for Bereaved Families and Friends
It is important for those left behind to be given TIME. Time to go through their grieving processes in their own way and to be able to talk, rage, cry in order to come to terms with the shock and trauma of their loss.
Family and friends are important and being able to pull together and support each other is vital. However, there is a crucial place for supportive and professional care necessary to make sense of the loss and to work through the trauma and personal issues as a result of this tragedy, which a friend or family member may not be able to do.
Getting professional help during this time will be different for each person as we all grieve differently. Full Life Therapists know the negative consequences that suicide has on families, friends and the whole community. We are here to help and support people left to deal with the emotional roller coaster that often arises after such a traumatic incident.
Counselling is an invaluable aid in order to make sense of and deal with any unresolved issues which will bring us to a sense of acceptance and understanding in order to move on with our own lives.
Pastoral/Spiritual care and counselling is also available for people of faith who require this important component.
Our therapists work collaboratively with all local health professionals in the Connecting for Life Ireland's National Strategy (2015-2020) to reduce the number of suicide deaths.
For out of hours assistance:
