A short documentary on suicide awareness and the impact of suicide bereavement support groups

In this documentary, Lauren Oxley takes a deep look into support groups out there available for people that have been bereaved by suicide. Lauren lost her father to suicide in 2007 which was a complete shock and turned her world upside down. She said that it made her realise the importance of opening up and talking about your grief and the emotions that come with it. She also talks about how she doesn’t think suicide loss is talked about enough and that there is still a strong stigma surrounding it. She believes that people should feel comfortable to talk about their feelings and the topic of suicide more often and so, Lauren created this documentary 6 years ago, to spread awareness and understand how different support groups can help those bereaved.

In the documentary, Lauren first interviews John and Paul who are facilitators at the Survivors of Bereavement by Suicide (SOBs) Cumbria support group. SOBs are a UK-based organisation offering peer-led support to adults impacted by suicide loss. John and Paul discuss their own experiences with suicide bereavement and the positive impact that support groups had on them during their grieving. They said that they made them feel a part of a community and so they became motivated to help those who have gone through similar traumas and connect people. Lauren also interviews Gwen who is the facilitator of the SOBs support group in the Scottish Borders. Gwen opens up about losing her son to suicide and how she felt lonely in her grief as so many people didn’t know how to address her loss and instead ignored the subject. This led her to become inspired to facilitate support groups that allow people to feel less alone. Gwen discusses the different stages of grief and emotions that you may feel such as guilt, bitterness and sadness. Because suicide can happen so quickly and unexpectedly, she talks about how people can find this hard to understand. In both interviews, they also share how hard dates and anniversaries can be and how support groups can help you to feel supported during these tough times.

This documentary produces a raw and candid insight into how important it is to talk about your feelings and open about your grief. Lauren talks about her own suicide bereavement and how making this documentary has allowed her to see how much communicating and processing her emotions has helped her during her bereavement journey.