TUESDAY, APRIL 20: United Synergies will be holding a suicide bereavement workshop to provide support to the local community on Tuesday, May 17.

The workshop will be held from 9am to 3pm at the Whitehill Church of Christ, 219 Whitehill Road, Raceview, and will be facilitated by StandBy’s Brisbane coordinator Dev Kaphle and National Coordinator Jill Fisher.

UnitingCare Community’s StandBy Suicide Bereavement Response Service will host “Pathways to Care” and “Crossing the River” – workshops designed to increase understanding about suicide bereavement through a collaborative community approach and equip service providers and community care givers with basic suicide bereavement intervention skills.

Ms Fisher said the purpose of the morning workshop was to provide an understanding of the StandBy model for collaborative community care and increase understanding about suicide bereavement through the contribution of local service providers.

“It’s about training the community about the basic bereavement intervention skills to enhance and further develop the capacity of community response”, she said.

The afternoon session would provide basic suicide bereavement intervention skills and further develop the capacity for the community to respond to suicide, trauma or related issues, she said.

The event includes lunch and is open to anyone, but is particularly suitable for community workers, volunteers, health care providers, human resource managers, health, welfare and education professionals, youth service providers, clergy, people responding to family, friends and associates bereaved by suicide and concerned local individuals.

StandBy is a Suicide Bereavement Response Service that provides a 24-hour coordinated community crisis response to families, friends and associates who have been bereaved through suicide.

Currently this program is run by UnitingCare Community’s Brisbane Division and the service is offered from Brisbane to the Gold Coast, including Ipswich.

To find out more information about Standby please visit www.lccq.org.au/suicide-prevention.
To register to attend the Pathways to Care or Crossing the River workshops please email Coordinator of StandBy Response Service Brisbane Dev Kaphle on dev [dot] kaphle [at] lccq [dot] org [dot] au or phone 3250 1856 for more information.