Speak Their Name: an online memorial page for those bereaved by suicide

Coming together through shared memories has always been one of the most powerful ways for our community to remember loved ones. For Rebecca Jackson, a fibre artist and mum bereaved by suicide, it was storytelling through knitting that got her through her grief. In 2020 Rebecca launched the Speak Their Name Memorial Quilt project - a quilt made up of 54 unique squares, each one lovingly handmade by someone bereaved by suicide. Anyone grieving someone who died by suicide was invited to create a memorial square for their loved one on fabric - whether it be embroidered, stitched or painted - which was then sewn together in a quilt group; a supportive space for the community to come together through shared lived experience. 

With a mission to continue sharing these human stories online, a Speak Their Name website has now launched offering a space for anyone bereaved by suicide to remember their loved one with a digital square. There are now over 200 unique pages on the site, each filled with words, photos and videos remembering loved ones beyond their death by suicide. 

Creators of the site hope that as the site grows those who have lost someone to suicide will feel a stronger sense of not being alone in their grief: 'given that isolation is one of the risk factors for suicide, and the opposite of isolation is connection, our hope is that this site helps people to feel connected with others who have also experienced a loss by suicide… perhaps also helping them, over time, to navigate their grief with greater self-compassion.'

As well as this, the team behind the website want to increase access to support by raising awareness around the specialist support available following a suicide, from one-to-one support to helplines and groups. 

To create a page, find a square or simply find out more about the project, visit speaktheirname.org