Suicide Bereavement Counselling 

Suicide Bereavement is often a complex and unique form of grief, and as such, may require long term therapeutic support to help you through the grieving process. I have been working with those Bereaved by Suicide for over 3 years. I worked full time within an organisation that specialised in Suicide Bereavement as a counsellor for two years. I have continued to offer Suicide Bereavement Counselling within my private practice alongside other areas of Trauma Counselling. 

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 I  have an extensive work history of counselling those who have experienced Trauma. I deeply believe in healing and creating a thriving life, which is often unimaginable when you have lost someone to suicide and perhaps not the reason you are attending Counselling, so it is never the goal of Suicide Bereavement Counselling (unless you choose that). The work can be slow,  it is always gentle, filled with compassion and deep listening. Most of my bereaved clients are wanting a space to talk about their experience and the complexity around suicide makes it difficult to find a safe space to do so. So my goal is to provide that safe, non judgemental space to you. I have found that Suicide Bereavement clients can also bring other forms of trauma to our sessions, often clients come to me for another trauma and then realise that I have experience in Suicide Bereavement Counselling. Which is why I am sharing my trauma counselling with you in the next paragraph. 

 

I have worked in not for profit organisations as a Family Violence and group Facilitator, where I worked with children from the age of 5, as well as men and women who had experienced a violent family member. I have also worked for a Suicide Bereavement organisation where I worked with those who were bereaved by suicide. Within these roles and during my time working in schools, and in my Private Practice I have done both short term and long term therapy with those who have experienced; Childhood trauma, Sexual Abuse, Grief and Loss, Medical Trauma, Natural Disasters, Refugees, Childhood Neglect, Religious Abuse, Physical, Emotional, Financial, Spiritual, Verbal abuse and Coercive Control. 

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Therapy for those bereaved by suicide  is quite different to Grief and Loss Counselling,  there is a lot of effort put into not allowing you to be re-traumatised. We do not need to talk about the moment, I work with many people who have not spoken about the moment their person died, we can focus on what you need. There are many reasons people come to counselling when they are bereaved, some want to talk about the moment others do not. Some things you may want to talk about could include; Continuing Bonds, the Neuroscience of grief, repairing your assumptive world or coming to terms that the world is not in fact assumptive, Building Hope, Processing guilt, anger, sadness, distress, anxiety, help reintroducing a connection to Joy, validate that you are grieving correctly (hint it is very personal and there are no stages of grief), repairing strained connections, returning to work/school/social events, and much much more. 

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I offer a safe, non judgemental space where you can explore your emotions, without worrying you are going to surface a friend or family members grief. I also work with those who are supporting another through their grief process, it is not uncommon to want to know how to support someone else through their loss. I have worked with many people who did not know the person who died by suicide, but know someone who is bereaved and want to support them. I also support parents to parent children who are impacted by bereavement. 

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I often weave psycho-education (Grief models, nervous system, neuroscience, somatic, systems etc) into our sessions along with Compassion, Self-Compassion, Self Care, Storytelling, Identity work, Safety planning and Risk assessments (to help you engage safely in life again), Person Centred, Client Led, Companion Counselling. I am influenced by Poly Vagal Therapy, Emotion based therapy, Somatic Therapy - Yoga and Meditation, Acceptance, Narrative therapy, Existential Therapy. We can work with journalling, art, the felt sense, meditation, yoga and much more.  Most importantly I work at your pace, You need to feel safe and in control to heal. 

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I offer both Phone and Zoom Counselling Australia wide, and Face to Face Walk and Talk in the CBD of Melbourne. For those around the country who want to Walk and Talk we can arrange to do our sessions by phone and you can walk somewhere you feel safe close to your home.  I am often sitting in Melbourne talking to someone walking along a beach in Far North QLD or the Mornington Peninsular. I encourage you to hold your sessions in Nature - after all my whole business is named Conversations in Nature - So that may be your balcony or garden, a local park or beach, as long as you feel safe and you are not driving a car, we can discuss your options. ​​​​​​

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