Conference Agenda

The loss of a family member or close friend to suicide is a profoundly traumatic experience that markedly increases the risk of mental health issues and premature mortality among the bereaved. Nevertheless, many report being left to navigate their crisis alone, with access to timely and structured support remaining inconsistent. To address this gap, the Swedish Family Care Competence Centre (Nka) conducted a Blended Learning Network (BLN) in 2024–2025 to improve bereavement support across local and national contexts. The BLN combined collaborative learning, stakeholder engagement, and reflective practice. Four geographically distributed local networks participated, involving around 50 individuals, including bereaved persons, professionals from healthcare, emergency services, municipalities, police, clergy, civil society, and regional decision-makers.

This multi-sectoral approach helped identify systemic challenges and context-sensitive solutions. Findings highlight the urgent need for emotional and practical support immediately after a suicide. While emergency personnel can provide critical crisis intervention, support is often uneven and lacks follow-up. Children and adolescents were identified as particularly vulnerable, requiring age-appropriate information and stable adult presence. Barriers to help-seeking included shock, lack of awareness, and unclear referral pathways. Written and digital resources were seen as essential but remain underused.

The BLN also revealed a lack of standardized routines for managing the home environment post-suicide, such as handling medication and trauma-sensitive cleaning. Professionals expressed a need for training in grief and trauma, and access to specialized teams. Regional collaboration emerged as a promising model for delivering qualified, needs-based support.

In conclusion, the BLN approach fostered cross-sectoral learning and generated actionable insights. However, support remains fragmented and reliant on individual initiative. The findings underscore the need for coordinated national and local structures to ensure equitable bereavement support following suicide.

Background: Losing a loved one to suicide can be a traumatic experience that may require support from peers and/or professionals. However, many bereaved people struggle to locate the right resources on their own.

Aim: This project aimed to improve support for those affected by suicide and enhance the ability of frontline professionals to connect them with appropriate services by revising an existing website to better meet the needs of both the bereaved and professionals.

Methods: The project engaged suicide-bereaved individuals, a diverse group of professionals, and researchers in a series of collaborative workshops to address real-world challenges faced by both those affected by suicide and professionals.

Results: Participants identified key needs, such as the importance of clear, compassionate communication and easy access to relevant support services. Based on these insights, it became clear that a simple revision of the existing website was insufficient. Instead, a new site was developed without a name associated with suicide prevention, and the website design was changed to a landscape layout to better align with the needs and preferences of experts by experience. The website offers information on bereavement and direct links to public and NGO services relevant to the target group. Additionally, a printable brochure and an information sheet were created to assist first responders and healthcare professionals in guiding the bereaved toward appropriate support.

Conclusion: The co-creation approach ensured that the website addressed both the emotional and practical needs of the bereaved and the professionals. Nonetheless, even with a dissemination plan, increasing awareness of the website’s existence remains difficult.

Suicide bereavement is associated with far-reaching adversities, encompassing deteriorated mental health and a heightened risk for subsequent suicides. While support initiatives are increasing, they have been mainly developed in Western countries, and it remains unclear whether existing services cater for the needs of suicide loss survivors from different backgrounds. Australia is home to one of the largest multicultural populations, with around seven million migrants. Among them, approximately 800,000 identify as Muslims. Data regarding their suicidality and support needs are limited or unreliable.

Existing evidence proposes that Muslims tend to have lower help-seeking behaviour when facing mental health adversities. Stigma surrounding mental health problems and suicide, the shortage of culturally and religiously informed mental health professionals and interventions are among the contributing factors. Results of our qualitative study with Muslim suicide loss survivors in Australia highlighted their need for culturally and religiously informed mental health care providers.

Building on these gaps, we are conducting an online survey to understand the perceived skills and competence of the mental health workforce in Australia in providing suicide bereavement support for suicide bereaved Muslim clients. The survey also explores their views on the content of a potential suicide postvention training. This survey is ongoing, with 135 responses received to date. A mixed-methods analysis will be conducted, using descriptive and inferential statistics for closed-ended items, and inductive content analysis using NVivo-14 for free text answers. Data collection will conclude in December 2025, and we aim to present the main results at the 21st ESSSB 2026.

Background: Timely, ongoing, and responsive formal supports are essential for people bereaved by suicide. These interventions should be developed collaboratively with individuals who have lived experience and tailored to the needs of affected individuals and communities.

Aim: This study aims to establish an evidence base to inform the development of a model of care for suicide bereavement services in Ireland, drawing on published literature and consultations with relevant stakeholder groups.

Methods: Reviews (including meta-analyses, systematic reviews, scoping reviews, or integrative reviews with systematic methodology) published between 2018 and 2025 will be identified from four digital databases. These reviews will examine interventions, supports, or service delivery models for people bereaved by suicide. In addition, consultation events will be conducted with two key stakeholder groups: (1) individuals with experience of suicide bereavement and (2) professionals with insight into the provision of formal bereavement support in Ireland, including both community-level and health service-based supports. Consultations will involve one-to-one meetings and working groups, depending on the stakeholder group, and will follow an informal qualitative approach using topic guides tailored to participants’ expertise.

Results: Evidence synthesis and stakeholder consultations are currently underway. Evidence on effective postvention interventions, key components of suicide bereavement service models, and evidence-based guidelines will be presented thematically. Consultations will identify factors specific to the Irish context that may influence the development and implementation of a model of care, such as procedures for death notification, practical considerations, and local or national challenges.

Conclusions: Recommendations will outline next steps for developing a model of care for bereavement services in Ireland. This model will underpin the establishment of a suicide bereavement support service by Ireland’s national health service.

Background: When a young person dies by suicide, this usually leads to a range of far-reaching consequences that extend well beyond the individual death. These affect families, peers, schools, communities, and society.

Aim: Recently, epidemiological changes have been observed, with suicidal behaviour beginning at an earlier age, resulting in deaths occurring even in early adolescence. Consequently, postvention activities in schools need to be adapted for a younger population with different developmental characteristics.

Method: Twenty-nine examples of postvention activities from the past five years have been analysed, and the needs, challenges, and practices have been collected based on interviews with nine school counsellors and ten postvention facilitators.

Results: The analysis showed that in postvention cases involving younger adolescents, the entire local community tends to be deeply affected, requiring schools and facilitators to respond not only to the immediate peer group but also to a wider circle of stakeholders. Interviewees– especially those who were parents themselves– reported strong personal emotional reactions, highlighting the need for support for school counsellors. One of the most prominent themes concerned communication and collaboration with the parents of classmates (i.e., non-bereaved parents), who frequently seek guidance, reassurance, and clear information on how to support their children.

Conclusions: To conduct suicide postvention activities for early adolescents, these activities must be tailored; in most cases, this involves explaining the complexity of suicidal behaviour in simple terms and providing concrete suggestions on how to support oneself during bereavement. Effective postvention also requires sensitivity to the emotional experiences of school counsellors and facilitators, and proactive engagement with the broader parent community.