The Suicide Bereavement Support Partnership (SBSP)

Vision

Everyone bereaved or affected by suicide should be offered and receive timely and appropriate support.

Mission Statement

The Suicide Bereavement Support Partnership (SBSP) is the hub for those organisations and individuals working across the UK to support people, who have been bereaved by suicide.

“We believe that everyone bereaved or affected by suicide, of whatever age, should always be offered and receive timely and appropriate support and be able easily to access a choice of appropriate local and national information, guidance and support to enable them to manage the impact of the death on their lives.”

All SBSP members are committed to making this a reality.

Aims

The members of SBSP aim to work collaboratively to:

• ensure all those bereaved or affected by suicide are offered and receive timely and appropriate support
• increase access to information about services and resources that are available
• improve the range and quality of bereavement support after a death by suicide
• reduce the incidence of suicide or attempted suicide in those who have been bereaved by suicide.

SBSP aims to achieve these aims through:

• advocating for all those bereaved by suicide by influencing policy, increasing public understanding, striving to include bereavement by suicide in all bereavement pathways
• signposting families, professionals and the public to appropriate sources of high quality bereavement support by developing mechanisms (website; online directories; email/text message; bereavement care pathways) for fast, simple access
• supporting each other and other professionals to find and share the knowledge and resources they need to deliver high quality, accessible care to those bereaved by suicide by: sharing knowledge of members’ services; national and regional meetings; newsletters
• researching the impact of bereavement through suicide; working with researchers to develop an understanding of the incidence and the effects of bereavement by suicide; evaluating the outcomes of programmes of support for those bereaved through suicide; and developing care service standards for those bereaved by suicide
• generating new ideas and approaches to improving care for those bereaved by suicide.

Help is at Hand is a guide offering practical and emotional support for people bereaved by suicide. The guide has been developed by people who have lost people to suicide, with support from experts at Public Health England and the National Suicide Prevention Alliance.