Supporting people bereaved by suicide in the South West Region of Western Australia: Report

Authors

Colleen M. Carlon, Edith Cowan UniversityFollow

Author Identifier

Colleen Carlon: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2015-0009

Document Type

Report

Publisher

Edith Cowan University

School

School of Arts and Humanities

Comments

Carlon, C. (2025). Supporting people bereaved by suicide in the South West Region of Western Australia: Report. Edith Cowan University. https://doi.org.10.25958/tzwz-wn31

Abstract

This paper reports on the practices of service providers in working with people and communities bereaved by suicide in regional contexts. For people bereaved by suicide experiences of grief, trauma and stigma and the questioning of why someone has died create a complex mix of need and emotion that can leave people vulnerable to complicated grief and poor physical and mental health. These e􀆯ects may also be exacerbated by stigma in social and communal contexts. As such experiences of suicide grief are di􀆯erent to other forms of grief and loss, e􀆯ectively supporting people and communities bereaved by suicide requires knowledge and understanding attuned to these di􀆯erences. An online survey carried out in 2024 aimed to better understand the current practices and perspectives of people working in community and social services for supporting people and communities bereaved by suicide in the South West Region of Western Australia. The survey findings emphasise the importance of social connection and open and compassionate communication for supporting people and communities bereaved by suicide. Stigma was reported as a barrier to support. Service providers emphasised lived experience of suicide loss and community, connection and collaboration as key resources for assisting their work with people and communities bereaved by suicide. The survey findings indicate that people working in organisations that are not intentionally providing suicide bereavement find themselves needing to support people and communities bereaved by suicide. Community conversations and training were highlighted by service providers in the South West Region as preferred approaches to developing their knowledge. Both lived experience and professional knowledge were reported as valuable to this task.

DOI

10.25958/tzwz-wn31

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.