World Suicide Prevention Day Conference and Service of Remembrance 25
On Wednesday 10 September, please join us for the 7th annual conference and service of remembrance to mark World Suicide Prevention Day – a day to help reduce the stigma, raise awareness and start meaningful conversations. The event takes place online and starts at 10am until 11.30am.
The Conference and Service of Remembrance is brought to you by South East London Suicide Bereavement Service partners: Mind in Bexley, South East London Mind, and South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust (SLaM).
The conference will showcase important work in the field of suicide prevention and will hear from those with lived experiences of losing a loved one. To close the conference, Chaplains from SLaM will lead a non-denominational service of remembrance to remember those we have lost to suicide, personally or professionally.
This event will be held online and is open to anyone who is interested in attending. You can sign up here: LINK
About the Suicide Bereavement Service
The Suicide Bereavement Service focuses on supporting the agenda outlined in the NHS Long Term Plan and Suicide Prevention Strategy for England, working toward the national ambition that all those bereaved by suicide are offered timely, effective and compassionate support.
Evidence shows that those bereaved by suicide have a higher risk of dying by suicide than the general population. Services like this focus on “postvention” – the belief that supporting those bereaved by suicide who are at an increased risk are offered preventable measures against future crises.
The purpose of this service is to offer a community resource with open access to people of all ages bereaved by suicide across the London boroughs of Bexley, Bromley, Greenwich, Lambeth, Lewisham, and Southwark. In its first four years of operation, the service has supported over 550 people.
What service users think
A client who lost his son to suicide shared feedback on how using the service has supported him in his journey.
He said: “The main thing is it helped me to understand that what I was feeling was normal and it’s what a lot of people feel and how they react when losing someone close to them by suicide. It helped me understand the mindset of my son when he did it and that has helped me cope. I’m in a good place, a better place. My counsellor did a brilliant job. It has really helped. I didn’t think it would, but I quickly felt it was right and I’m glad I did it.”
For any further information, visit the Suicide Bereavement Service webpage here: mindinbexley.org.uk/suicide-bereavement-service
Or contact: Amy.Kirk-Smith@selmind.org.uk
