Mental Health Professionals

The PABBS training was highly relevant to my Family Liaison role, providing valuable insight into the impact of suicide and bereavement on families and wider communities. The facilitators delivered the training with great sensitivity, compassion and expertise, creating a safe space for reflection and discussion. It encouraged me to reflect on my communication and listening skills when supporting bereaved families, whilst reinforcing the importance of self-care and professional resilience. I would highly recommend this training to anyone involved in family engagement, bereavement support or mental health services.

I must admit that I wasn’t sure how the day would go, I thought that a whole day on this topic would be intense and upsetting.  It was intense but it was also a very worthwhile training day, with moments of joy, and I’m so pleased that I attended.  The trainers approached the topic with maturity and compassion.  I started the day with little prior knowledge of this topic, and I ended the day feeling like I would feel confident talking about this topic with students if it came up in my role.  The trainers made the day very interesting, and I found it invaluable to hear their own personal experiences as well as the experiences of the attendees.  They created a safe space where everyone felt like they could talk freely about personal experiences if they wished.  The self-care section felt particularly important for staff to be aware of, and everyone appeared visibly lighter by the end of the day.  I have gained newfound confidence in approaching this topic as well as being mindful of the terminology I use which I now realise was outdated.  I left the day with a very positive outlook; I would recommend this training to everyone as we all need to be able to freely talk about this topic.

This training seems essential to attend – for all clinicians and managers within the mental health service. It was well delivered by compassionate and insightful trainers who successfully engaged their audience. The course content was interesting and provided useful updates on the current suicide trends including appropriate terminology when discussing this difficult area with service users. It became apparent that a number of delegates had been or were close to burn out within the mental health field – this training helped discuss the difficult boundary between caring for others whilst ensuring much necessary self care. Again I would recommend to all within the mental health field.

I attended training on tues 12^th may 2025 PABBS training at Novotel in manchester. The training was excellent and the trainers were amazing. It was refreshing to be taught by people who genuinely care so much (it was visibly apparent) about mental health and suicide. I appreciated the intimacy of the training group, as it was much more interactive and I was able to maintain focus, opposed to being ina huge room with lots of people, as I find my attention going in those settings. I learnt about resources and signposting I wasn’t already aware of and can now use in my practice. I was also pleasantly surprised by the food available and it was tasty. My belly and mind was full with good food and knowledge which is a big win. Thankyou to both Sharon and Dean for being able to deliver training on such a difficult topic and making it enjoyable.’

I have been involved in social work and education for over 30 years and have attended a great deal of training. This session ranks as one of the best sessions I have had the absolute joy to be present in. From the wonderfully warm and professional facilitators to the robust evidence-based research through to the profound impact it has had on my practice. It is uncommon to meet colleagues who have lived experience of the subject matter. That was the difference between this session and other CPD I have experienced down the years. Unflinching in their handling of this sensitive subject meant there was a professional confidence in the room to hone practice, open up honest conversations with students/clients and help as many people as possible bereaved by suicide; to live, love ,hope, dream and at times simply continue. I can only say thank you for this session and encourage more people to sign up and participate.

Excellent training!

I would highly recommend this training as it provides an understanding of the need to proactively engage and appropriately respond with those affected/bereaved by suicide.  It also highlights; the stigma, importance of appropriate language and value of reflective practice and self care.  

The PABBS training was engaging, insightful and challenging in all of the right ways. It not only educated but encouraged each trainee to look inwardly and assess their own practice, unconscious bias, self-care and self-worth. The day felt more like a university seminar than a training session – discussion was encouraged and scaffolded at every point. The training was delivered confidently by experts in the field who themselves were engaging and managed to deliver a session around incredibly serious and heavy content in a way which was still fun and enjoyable as well as informative. Each trainee went away with a practical change/improvement they planned to make to their practice. I can’t recommend this training highly enough.

‘Having worked with serving personnel, veterans and their families over the past 28 years PABBS training delivers the knowledge needed to engage effectively and compassionately with the many people bereaved by suicide. The aftermath is often devastating and far reaching so knowing what support to consider is a must.  The breadth of lived experiences of suicide of those who attended added a much deeper level of understanding and was also inspirational.’

As both a practitioner and a person who has lost someone to suicide, I really valued the session on the language to use around suicide with Angela. I think mental health professionals can often struggle with discomfort and preconceptions when we talk about suicide. I felt the session really empowered me to be direct in the language I use, but also helped me to understand that this can be done in a sensitive way that opens up helpful discussions. I also felt it provided some really useful thinking around the importance of considering the implications of the language we use when talking about suicide in the media. I’m planning to feed back the session to my team and would recommend it to anyone working in a service where suicide is often discussed.

As a Mental Health First Aider/support worker i was inspired by the trainers knowledge and  research. Their first hand experience in supporting those affected personally and professionally, was expressed in the training and reconfirmed that this is an important area to develop my knowledge in . Highly recommend.

PABBS facilitators attended my workplace and delivered a workshop for our Family Liaison Practitioners.  The facilitators presented some information that was entirely new to me, enabled me to examine my approach to speaking to and listening to families and how to look after myself.  The presentation was more a conversation and that was appreciated by the whole group.  The subject was handled very sensitively, with passion and compassion.  The course contents were entirely relevant and the resources are of a very high standard.  I’m really pleased that I and the team undertook this training, and it would come with my recommendation.

Thanks to PABBS, I am now accompanied by over seven and a half thousand voices that have been bereaved by suicide, and when I do the work that I do, that is a comfort to me. My training day with PABBS gave me insights I did not have, and resources I can draw upon, making me a better resource for the people I support. In the short time since the training I can tell you that those 7500 voices have already been heard by a university welfare team, dozens of bereavement volunteers and a collection of people who have found themselves in the club no one wanted to be in. But once you find yourself in that club, you realise you are desperately searching to connect with other members, so you can be heard and hear. I would recommend the training, for the knowledge, the opportunity to meet amazing facilitators, and the amazing attendees, who by association, are also members of that club. We all need to embrace that elephant and PABBS has given me the confidence and validation to do just that.

I attended the course with some apprehension, it’s a very relaxed environment and humour and appreciation for one another story is very pertinent to your own understanding of suicide and bereavement. It was also purposeful to connect to others on the course who have a lived experience of suicide that may shape how you deal with or manage future families that you may support in your role or profession. It would be good for me as an NHS professional to understand the journey of grief after suicide and I hope this would be explored further on the day. But appreciating one day is a short window to experience or develop such skills or at least have confidence in your acquisition. The resources that were given were good and already embedded them in my own workstream to support families and shared these amongst other colleagues. How we look after ourselves is very pertinent to our own resilience and something I need to develop-That was one thing I took away as a personal task. 

Angela and Yinka are a real credit to your organisation and the work you all do, thank you so much for one of the best training courses in this field of work.

I just wanted to say what an amazing day Angela and Yinka gave us.  The Major Incident Response Team volunteers provide the county’s primary postvention service and to be able to receive this valuable training really added to building their confidence in being able to sit with, and have compassionate conversations with those bereaved.  The course delivery is very informative and engaging with just the right balance of education and conversation.  Seeing the reality of data really brought the subject home to the volunteers and hopefully if they didn’t already know it they do now, the important role they play in quickly supporting those bereaved.  The volunteers have been emailing me to say how much they loved Angela and Yinka and that whilst they have done lots of training courses, this one will stay will them for many reasons. 

Attending PABBS has made me more aware of my own needs and the needs of others during the bereavement process. The course is thought provoking and very emotive, delivered by amazing people. The PABBS training has made me more confident in supporting those bereaved by suicide.

‘I found the PABBS Training to be very informative.  The trainers were excellent in their presentation of information throughout the day and there was plenty of opportunity for discussion. The training highlighted the impact of suicide on both those bereaved and the wider impact on others e.g. friends, work colleagues, health professions, emergency responders etc. I would certainly recommend this training to those working in mental health.  So much to take away and consider’.

‘This training is essential for those supporting individuals through such difficult times. I learnt so much, and feel so much more confident to use the tools  in my practice’.