Bereaved by Suicide Training for Counsellors and Therapists
This three module training package will equip Counsellors and Talking Therapists with the skills and tools they will need to provide appropriate support to people who have been bereaved by suicide and to enhance patient care and experience by improving the support available.
WHO SHOULD ATTEND
Therapists, Counsellors, Psychologists, and talking therapists, including volunteers.
KEY FACTS
- NCS quality checked course
- Course length: 3 Modules, over 3 days – 10am – 1pm
- Deliver: online
- Course materials: PDF of slides available, certificate of attendance
- Courses are not recorded to protect attendee confidentiality
MODULES DATE & TIMES
Module 1: Wednesday 4 October, 10am to 1pm
Module 2: Wednesday 15 November, 10am to 1pm
Module 3: Wednesday 13 December, 10am to 1pm
COURSE MODULES
MODULE 1 – Bereavement by suicide: Why is it different?
Aim: To understand the context and significance of bereavement by suicide, especially the immediate impact on those affected.
Learning outcomes: By the end of this module, participants will have an increased knowledge and understanding of:
- the grief responses and far-reaching impact of bereavement by suicide;
- why bereavement by suicide is different to other bereavements;
- the Dual Process Model (Strobe and Schut, 1999), in the context of being bereaved by suicide; and
- the legal and administrative aspects of bereavement by suicide.
MODULE 2 – Life has changed: Trauma, stigma and treatment approaches
Aim: To understand the features and causes of grief resulting from bereavement by suicide.
Learning outcomes: By the end of this module, participants will have an increased knowledge and understanding of:
- how different factors following bereavement by suicide impact on grieving;
- how traumatic bereavement can present and how it can best be supported;
- the Growing Around Grief model of bereavement (Tonkins, 1996) in the context of suicide; and
- the impact of this type of ‘disenfranchised’ grief (Doka, 1989) on the bereaved.
MODULE 3 – ‘From Grief to Hope’: Support skills, creative approaches and Continuing Bonds
Aim: To explore the support skills necessary for people bereaved by suicide to live with their loss.
Learning outcomes: By the end of this module, participants will have an increased knowledge and understanding of:
- how to empower clients who have been bereaved by suicide, including using Action Perspectives;
- the skills required when working with people bereaved by suicide, including working with ‘postvention’;
- the Continuing Bonds model of bereavement (Klass, 1996) in the context of bereavement by suicide; and
- creative responses to bereavement by suicide and the search for meaning after loss.
WHAT OTHERS ARE SAYING ABOUT OUR TRAINING
“The training was so powerful and helped me reach a less fraught perspective of suicide. By the end of the training, suicide wasn’t something I put ‘over there’ anymore, something to avoid talking about. Suicide became something ‘over here’, that is ok to talk about without shame.”