“There’s not enough support for those bereaved by suicide”

Monday 10 September 2018

Islanders dealing with the suicide of loved ones are not being offered enough support to work through their “complex” grief and deal with practical affairs, the Director of a major mental health charity has said.

Mind Jersey’s James Le Feuvre made the statement as he called for more help for the bereaved in the form of volunteer support workers on World Suicide Prevention Day today.

The theme of the day is ‘working together’ – a sentiment that Mr Le Feuvre feels could improve the provision for those bereaved by suicide.

Speaking to Express, Mr Le Feuvre outlined “gaps” in the provision for those going through the grief process. “We respect absolutely what the health professionals do, but we’ve identified by working with those who have been bereaved by suicide that there are some gaps in the support that they would receive immediately afterwards [when dealing with] the devastation, the distress and the shock.”  

Mr Le Feuvre emphasised that the challenge of having to organise practical affairs in the wake of a suicide is particularly distressing for mourning family members.

Pictured: The theme of this year's World Suicide Prevention Day is 'working together'.

Mr Le Feuvre said: “We’ve identified by listening to what some of the people with lived experience have told us is that the prospect of us recruiting and supporting a volunteer who’s been through that themselves could make an enormous difference in practical terms. 

“This volunteer would not do clinical work in any sense, but they would provide support around the everyday things, the practical things that we just take for granted. They need to be done and to have someone there who could suitably hold a hand and help someone get through those first weeks and months could make a huge difference.”

Mr Le Feuvre said that Mind Jersey envisages that this volunteer would work one-on-one with the bereaved and use their own experience of suicide to provide much-needed support during what is a very distressing time. He told Express that the volunteer would be trained by Mind Jersey to ensure they’re prepared to support others in this role.

Mr Le Feuvre continued: “Suicide is complex – it’s often unexpected and there’s lots of emotions around why and how it happened and whether it could have been avoided”, but he said that a volunteer with lived experience would be able to relate to the bereaved on a more intimate level “because they have been there themselves.”