Have you been bereaved by suicide?

If someone close to you has taken their own life Kensington and Chelsea Cruse Bereavement Care in partnership with Central London Samaritans can offer group support to help understand your grief and cope with your loss.
Our support groups offer an alternative to one-to-one bereavement support, and are an opportunity for people bereaved by suicide to meet and share their experiences and feelings, supported by those who may be in a similar situation.

Support groups

On average we run 6-8 groups a year.
To register your interest in future groups, or for more information, please email supportgroup@cls.org.uk or call 020 7758 0029 and leave us a message.

Groups are available to those aged 18 or over. Before we confirm your place on a group one of our facilitators will need to have an informal chat with you on the phone to talk through what the groups involve and what you hope to get out of this type of support.

Feedback

Here are some reflections from those that have participated in our groups:

“The group sessions were life affirming and enhancing. I felt I was not alone. There is enormous comfort in finding shared experiences of such a terrible thing. I feel so very lucky to have had this wonderful opportunity. I will never forget the overwhelming kindness and support that I have received.”

- Emily, group participant (reproduced with permission)

“Many group members talked of feeling isolated and alone in their grief, with unanswered questions and difficult feelings suffered alone. These groups were an opportunity to share these feelings and offer mutual support, in a way that therapy or any kind of one-to-one support could not do”

– Kate, Samaritans facilitator

Our experience

 

 

Samaritans is a confidential emotional support service for anyone in the UK and Ireland.  The service is available 24 hours a day for people who are experiencing feelings of distress or despair, including those which may lead to suicide.  Volunteers offer support by responding to phone calls, emails and letters.  Alternatively people can drop in to a branch to have a face to face meeting.

 

The service is offered by 17,000 trained volunteers and is entirely dependent on voluntary support.  There are 201 branches of Samaritans in the UK and Republic of Ireland.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cruse Bereavement Care is the UK’s largest bereavement charity and responds to nearly 100,000 requests for support every year.  Cruse passionately believes that all those facing bereavement deserve exceptional care and provides support and offer information, advice, education and training services.  The charity has over 100 areas/branches across England, Northern Ireland and Wales.  More information about the Kensington and Chelsea Branch of Cruse Bereavement Care can be found at www.kc-cruse.org.uk or by phoning 020 8964 3455.

 

More general information can be found at www.cruse.org.uk or by phoning the helpline on 0844 479400.