‘It’s like getting a group hug and you can cry there and be yourself and they understand’. Family members’ experiences of using a suicide bereavement peer support group

Abstract

Suicide bereavement support groups are a valuable source of help for people coping with a suicide and it is important to understand how they are beneficial, as well as ways in which they may be unhelpful or even detrimental. A constructivist grounded theory approach was implemented and17 family members bereaved by suicide were interviewed, along with seven participants in a focus group. The findings highlighted the difficulties for participants to adjust to the suicide, which motivated them to meet others in a peer suicide bereavement group who had shared a similar experience. This helped them to normalise their grief experiences and share ways of coping with the death. Some participants encountered practical challenges of accessing groups, found other ways of coping or described their needs as unmet. It is recommended that health services proactively provide bereaved families with timely and ongoing information on support available, including peer support groups, to minimise negative health outcomes.

Keywords:

• suicide
• grief
• bereavement
• peer support
• postvention

Acknowledgments

This paper is drawn from a PhD thesis at the University of Huddersfield which would have been impossible without the tremendous support provided by SOBS and their members. We acknowledge the support of Dr Graham Gibbs and Dr Alison Rodriguez who were part of the PhD supervision team. This work was also supported by the South West Yorkshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust. 

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Farzana Ali

Mike Lucock