Alex Sutcliffe, Major Incident Response Team, North Yorkshire Council
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.
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 course “Postvention Assisting those Bereaved By Suicide (PABBS) ONE DAY Training” very informative and good. The course was professional, and it was very encouraging to meet others who work to support relatives and can share experiences and views. Teachers’ experience of insight and interest in the subject was one of the biggest advantages of the course.
I’m currently working on commissioning a new suicide bereavement service in Staffordshire and Stoke on Trent, and attended the PABBS training in early February 2022. Initially, my intention was to see for myself how useful this would be for people involved in delivering elements of the service. Perhaps unsurprisingly, I found it incredibly useful for my own benefit – especially reinforcing my understanding around the evidence of what and who the service needs to support. I’d certainly recommend it for anybody working on developing or delivering a postvention service.
It was a pleasure attending the workshop and getting to know suicide bereavement is taken so seriously, including so many aspects/people associated with it. You and Angela made the workshop extremely absorbing and informative,
“Yesterday [PABBS Training] was amazingly thought provoking”
We are pleased to let you know that ‘Support after Suicide: A guide to providing local services’ is now available on the Public Health England website . Guidance on ‘Developing and delivering local suicide postvention support’ and ‘Evaluating local suicide postvention support’ is also available on the NSPA website. Public Health England and the National Suicide Prevention Alliance would like to thank you for your impressive support in helping create them. We know a phenomenal amount of work has gone in to developing these and your expertise has been greatly appreciated throughout this process.
I currently work in the UK and Africa during and after traumatic incidents. To find someone with Dr Sharon McDonnell’s enthusiasm to bring training and research to frontline specialists is truly inspirational. Sharon brings speakers with innovative, factual and evidence-based experiences, giving practitioners the opportunity to network and build a knowledge bank to enhance our work around the world. This research is key to building a greater knowledge to improve our practice. It was an honour to hear experiences from other practitioners, thank you.
I thoroughly enjoyed the Suicide Bereavement Course in Manchester in 2018. It was thought provoking and had a range of professionals in attendance which gave different views to the subject. I came away with skills and strategies that I intend to use in my role in Telford & Wrekin Council as the Safeguarding Children in Education Officer.
We commissioned the Postvention: Assisting those Bereaved By Suicide (PABBS) course to find out how useful it is in increasing understanding across organisations supporting those who have been bereaved by suicide. The feedback we’ve received (all of which has been positive) has demonstrated that it is very valuable to those who provide that important support to people who have been bereaved.