Reflections from a Community Capacity Building Forum to Support People Bereaved by Suicide

An estimated half the population may be impacted by suicide loss. The combination of grief and trauma makes the experience particularly complex. Recognised as the most stigmatised of all sudden losses people bereaved by suicide are in sociocultural contexts that disrupt constructive grief processes and create barriers for help seeking and supportive responses. Effecting change in this context poses a significant health promotion challenge. Social workers in the South West Region of Western Australia sought to develop and deliver a unique postvention approach aimed at strengthening the self-support capacity of people bereaved by suicide while building broader community capacity for informal support. In this article, we provide an overview of a community capacity building approach, underpinned by a social work perspective, and report on findings from a reflective evaluative study of the experiences of community participants. The findings point to the value of good information and the desire to support people bereaved by suicide effectively. People identified the benefits of attending the Forum as increased awareness of grief and trauma, fostering empathy for self and others; increased understanding of the impacts of stigma on grief processes and informal support; and recognising shared experiences of suicide bereavement in the community. IMPLICATIONS Community approaches to suicide postvention can be done safely and are valuable to the people who participate. Social work skills for community engagement meet the needs of people bereaved by suicide and enhance the capacity of their informal supporters. Community conversations of suicide grief strengthen understandings and disrupt societal silences and stigmas.