Suicide Bereavement Support Group Standards & Practice Project

Lifeline Australia’s Suicide Bereavement Support Group Standards & Practice Project (SBSGSPP) is a workforce development project which aims to improve suicide bereavement support by developing a) standards and guidelines to inform best practice and b) training for group facilitators. The project is managed by Lifeline Australia.  

'Mostly when people put together a suicide bereavement support group they do the best they can with the resources around them,' says project coordinator Susan Beaton.

'This project is an opportunity to pool all of the research and resources together, consult with those working in the field both in Australia and internationally and develop some best practice tools. These tools would certainly be ideal for people who are starting a group, and it’s also useful for people with ongoing groups to look at how they are travelling and either validate what they have been doing or improve it.'

The Suicide Bereavement Support Group Standards & Practice Project overview document stipulates five primary objectives. This document is available to read and download.

About the project coordinator 

Susan Beaton is a psychologist who has been working for Lifeline Australia since 2004 as National Suicide Prevention Coordinator. Beaton has been involved with suicide prevention for over twenty years both in Australia and the USA, working mostly for NGOs in project management, training and education, service delivery and board representation. Beaton has advised the Commonwealth as a member of the National Advisory Council for Suicide Prevention's Community & Experts Forum contributing to the recent review of the LIFE documents. She is currently the international representative for the American Association of Suicidology.

Background 

Lifeline Australia was granted funding for the SBSGSPP by the Department of Health and Ageing in late 2006 and the project officially began in December 2006. It will run through to June 2009.

Activities

The SBSGSPP is promoted through newsletters, workshops and conferences. It also has an expert reference group consisting of Lifeline employees as well as individuals from different organisations.

Model

The foundation work of the SBSGSPP commenced with recommendations from the Commonwealth’s National Activities on Suicide Bereavement Project completed in 2006 by Corporate Diagnostics and United Synergies.

Says Beaton: 'The Corporate Diagnostics/United Synergies consortium had developed a draft set of standards which was our starting point, so we owe a lot to the fine work that was completed under that project.'

Multi-level consultation has seen the development of these standards and guidelines which has informed the development of a comprehensive practice handbook for suicide bereavement support group facilitators. Both these tools have supported the development of training for facilitators.

Challenges

The project set out to develop nationally accredited, competency-based training within the VET (Vocational Education Training) system and specifically the Community Services Training Package. Before the project’s inception there were no existing competencies relating to supporting people bereaved by suicide, so the project developed and submitted competencies to the Community Services and Health Industry Skills Council (CSHISC).  These were reviewed extensively for final ministerial approval in December 2008. SBSG facilitators complete various related units that can provide credit towards a number of Certificate IV qualifications in the community services industry.

'For anybody undertaking this training, it is a large piece of work and a big commitment. People bereaved by suicide deserve to have groups facilitated by people who are well prepared and competent to support them,' says Beaton.

'It is not just coming along to a three-and-a-half day training. This is nationally accredited training so we have been developing pre-training tasks as well as pre and post-training assessment, alongside of developing the training. It has been a large undertaking.'

Another ongoing challenge for this project is to develop and maintain effective collaborations between a large group of partnering programs, organisations and individuals.

'It is a challenge to work with a large group but it has overwhelming benefits,' says Beaton. 'The products are much more robust with the inclusion of many collaborative partners.'

Another challenge in the operation of a suicide bereavement support group concerns planning, design, attention to practice issues, and specific skills. This is important if it is to be effective in supporting those who attend, while also ensuring that people’s wellbeing and safety is of paramount consideration in the operation of the group. Suicide bereavement support should be recognised as requiring particular skills and techniques. Simply being a caring individual is only part of what is needed in a facilitator.

Evaluation

Facilitators of suicide bereavement support groups manage sessions with people who are experiencing bereavement from tragic events in their lives. Susan Beaton believes one of the most positive outcomes of the project occurs when facilitators come out of the training feeling 'competent and capable to confidently step into these challenging groups and create a safe environment for those bereaved by suicide to share their experiences with others bereaved.'

Future plans for the project include:

Project partners

More information