Breaking the Silence: The Vital Role of Postvention Support in Margaret River .

In the wake of a suicide, the emotional toll on individuals, families, and communities can be overwhelming. StandBy Support, a national suicide postvention service, plays a critical role in guiding those affected through this difficult time. With tailored support extending up to two years, StandBy ensures that even the most remote communities have access to the care they need. As the region grapples with the effects of suicide, raising local awareness about the importance of such services is essential to fostering advocacy and resilience. To explore this subject, Danielle from Mindful Margaret River sat down with Hayley from StandBy.

What is the primary mission of StandBy Support, and why is it so vital in the current climate of suicide prevention and postvention?

Everything we do is to support those bereaved and impacted by suicide loss with the aim to avoid prolonged grief, psychological distress relating to grief and to prevent further losses.

Bereavement by suicide has been evidenced as a risk factor for subsequent suicide, regardless of whether the relationship to the person who died by suicide is a relative or not.

Sadly, nine Australians each day die by suicide. It is important to remember that behind each of those numbers is a person with a deeply personal story. Every individual loss affects many more lives. Research indicates that for every death through suicide,135 people are impacted and ten or more are significantly impacted, this can include family members, friends, colleagues, teammates, first responders, neighbours, and treating professionals.

Can you outline the key services that StandBy provides for individuals and communities affected by suicide?

StandBy provides free and confidential face-to-face and telephone support to anyone bereaved or impacted by suicide. Support is available at any stage, any age, whether the suicide is recent or in the past.

StandBy is an Australian Government initiative established in 2002 to meet the need for a coordinated community response to suicide. We provide a central point of coordination connecting people to the various supports they may need through referrals to services, groups and organisations within their local area.

We support people by hearing their story and allowing space for them to share all their emotions and feelings in a safe, supported way. We help explore connections within their personal networks and within their community network, and plan support centred around them. We provide psychoeducation and understanding specific to loss following a suspected suicide.

StandBy offers ongoing support for up to two years. How does this long-term care model benefit those navigating the grief and trauma of suicide loss?

Support is continued for two years to ensure those that engage with StandBy are not alone and receive ongoing support when needed. Through a holistic support model that includes follow-up contact, the risk for an individual considering suicide as an option themselves is significantly reduced.

An independent evaluation found people who accessed StandBy within 12 months of their loss, were significantly less likely to be at risk of suicide; significantly less likely to report experiencing mental health concerns; significantly less likely to experience social isolation or a loss of social connections; and reported less instances of difficulty sleeping, financial distress, family breakdown issues or problems in the workplace.

Could you explain how the national reach of StandBy ensures that even remote or rural communities can access its support services?

StandBy is committed to ensuring all Australians have equal access to evidenced informed, well-coordinated and timely post suicide support.

StandBy support is Australia wide; each region is covered by an area coordinator that people in the regions are connected to. If support is needed in rural or remote communities, StandBy can coordinate support in person, aligned with individual, families and community’s requests and needs.

How does the Lived Experience Advisory Group shape the services provided, and why is incorporating their insight crucial to StandBy’s success?

Our Lived Experience Advisory Group is made up of those with a lived experience of suicide bereavement. Lived experience brings insight, wisdom, compassion, care, understanding and perspective that is critical to informing best-practice approaches in postvention.

Those with lived experience of suicide bereavement are central to everything we do. We value the experiences and courage of people impacted by suicide, and the willingness of local communities to support them. StandBy continually develops its evidence-based approach with the latest research in trauma, loss, grief, and suicide bereavement.

What kinds of community preparedness and resilience programs does StandBy offer, and how do these initiatives help communities respond to suicide-related trauma?

StandBy builds community preparedness and resilience through extensive training for community and professional groups. The program is also ideally placed to offer a settings-based approach, providing group support after a suicide for schools, workplaces and community groups.

Standby provides locally tailored community workshops and education programs to increase awareness of suicide and suicide bereavement to help build the capacity of communities to support one another.

Supporting Children and Young People information helps to increase understanding of the impact of suicide on our youth and how best to support them during postvention activities.

We provide a Workplace Toolkit designed to assist employers, managers, and others in the leadership role to develop a confident and best practice response through understanding and planning for potential impacts of suicide. Also the Community Postvention planning through Pathway’s to Care is designed for organisations to develop a strategic and planned approach to suicide postvention within their community.

What are some of the main challenges StandBy faces in delivering its services, and how is the organisation working to overcome them?

Grief experienced by a suicide loss is different to grief from other losses and requires a specialised set of skills and experience. Historic grief theories and concepts don’t align with suicide grief, and it is essential to stay educated on current research and trends in the space, especially the information around pathologizing and diagnosing grief through clinical mental health models, and considering cultural and spiritual contexts.

Grief following suicide loss is unique, at times it is difficult to connect people with specialised support relating to grief following a loss of a loved one taking their own life. We rely on learning from personal lived experience of suicide loss and from the lived experience of our Advisory Group and those we support.

Research in Australia has found that around 135 people are impacted by each suicide. This equates to more than 400,000 people impacted by suicide each year in Australia.

Some of the main challenges we face in delivering service is reaching all those impacted. We aim to overcome this by further promoting the work of StandBy and StandBy support services and becoming more actively involved in community events, so that people are aware of the service should they need.

How can individuals or local businesses contribute to StandBy’s mission? What is the most effective way for the community to support your work?

The most effective way the community can support the work of StandBy is to share StandBy details to anyone impacted or bereaved by suicide who may need support. They can do this by contacting 1300 727 247 from anywhere within Australia to be connected with their local Coordinator.

Community members can be active in educating themselves on how to support those bereaved by suicide and can work together towards preventing further suicide loss.

For further information about StandBy please visit our website: www.standbysupport.com.au

For information on how to support StandBy please email standby.southwest@anglicarewa.org.au, or call 1300 727 247.

First published in the Augusta Margaret River Mail – 23 October 2024