StandBy Support After Suicide is a national program supporting people and communities bereaved or impacted by suicide. Central to its approach is the meaningful inclusion of lived experience of suicide bereavement. Over the past 12 months, the StandBy Lived Experience Team has produced a powerful series of videos under the theme “Conversations on the Couch.”
These videos reflect a rich diversity of voices and relationships, including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, LGBTQIA+SB individuals, culturally and linguistically diverse individuals, Men, and those living in rural and remote areas. The conversations span a wide range of relationships—from mother and daughter, friends, colleagues, to perfect strangers—and explore not only the experience of loss, but also the “after.” They answer questions many are afraid to ask, offering insight, honesty, connection, and hope.
This presentation invites the audience to sit with these stories—on the couch, in community, and in courage. Through a creative blend of spoken word, lived experience video, and reflective dialogue, it explores storytelling as a powerful form of postvention support and suicide prevention.
The session opens with a poetic introduction set to soft music, demonstrating that storytelling can take many forms—spoken, visual, lyrical—and that each has the potential to connect and be a catalyst for change. At its heart are the Conversations on the Couch videos, which honour the voices of those bereaved by suicide. These stories are raw, real, and resonant offering a window into grief and the strength found in vulnerability.
The presentation interweaves video with live reflection, drawing attention to the Papageno effect—the protective influence of stories that show hope and resilience. It also highlights the importance of safe, inclusive, and non-stigmatising language when communicating about suicide.
Audience members will be encouraged to consider how they, too, can create “conversations on the couch” in their own communities—spaces where people feel safe to share, listen, and be heard.
This presentation embodies the conference theme United Voices, Brighter Futures, offering a model for how storytelling can be embedded into suicide prevention and postvention practice—not just as a communication tool, but as a form of care.