LGBTIQA+ communities face specific challenges when experiencing loss or bereavement from suicide. While grief is a universal experience, our experiences of our identities influence the way we experience loss, and how loss is felt for LGBTIQA+ community members who lose someone to suicide. Switchboard Victoria’s Bereavement Program offers Nationally available Drop-in and 8-week bereavement groups where participants connect with lived experience facilitators in a safe, supportive and accessible environment.
As sector leaders in LGBTIQA+ suicide postvention services, Switchboard’s LGBTIQA+ Suicide Bereavement program acknowledges the challenges faced by our communities in finding culturally safe and responsive bereavement supports while navigating a suicide loss.
Switchboard Victoria will share best practice approaches for supporting LGBTIQA+ communities experiencing grief and bereavement. This presentation will highlight:
Switchboard’s Suicide Bereavement Program incorporates creative practice and non-narrative focused approaches to support participants to gain insight about their individual experience of healing. The program has a focus on deepening understanding about the challenges of bereavement through suicide and developing connections with other community members who have a shared experience of suicide loss.