Online platform launched to support communities after a sudden death
A new online platform has been launched to help support communities following a sudden death that is a suspected suicide.
Comkit is supported by the Public Health Agency (PHA) and has been developed with Urban Scale Interventions (USI) in partnership with Families’ Voices Forum as well as community and voluntary groups who are members of local Protect Life Implementation Groups (PLIGS) from five health and social care trusts.
The platform is customised for use by family, friends, neighbours, media, political representatives and community organisations. It uses a number of example scenarios and information videos that advise the best approach if a community requires guidance and awareness on how to respond to a sudden death.
Guidance is offered on a number of key themes including:
- The importance of using safe language when talking about suicide;
- Social media;
- Memorials and public gatherings within the community.
Fiona Teague, Mental Health and Emotional Wellbeing lead at the PHA said, “A sudden death that is a suspected suicide within a community is an incredibly complex and tough topic to broach. The online platform was designed to help people react and deal with such a tragic event in a caring and appropriate way. It was therefore crucial that a cross-section of people and groups were involved in the design and content development of Comkit. Over 50 people with lived experience, academic experts and health professionals, were consulted in its development. We are particularly grateful to Families’ Voices Forum for their collaboration and contribution throughout the development of the platform.
“Families, friends, communities and public representatives play a vital role in supporting those that have been impacted by a suspected suicide and Comkit provides each of these groups with guidance on key public messages to communicate and details of support systems to direct people to.”
Claire Curran chair of Families’ Voice Forum said, “Family members bereaved by suicide across the region were involved from the very start in the development of Comkit. Their experience of the type of information that helped them or what they felt was missing when they experienced their own loss, was vital in the development of this platform.
“It is crucial that responses and comments given by the media, local politicians, community groups and support services, take into consideration the complex emotions bereaved families experience and the importance of safe and appropriate language. We hope that Comkit will be used by the various target groups to help understand what families and communities are going through and provide the tools to better communicate safely around what is always an incredibly sensitive and confusing time for those impacted.”
Comkit can be accessed at www.comkit.info
For more information about Comkit contact Jak@urbanscaleinterventions.com
If you or someone you know is in distress or despair call the regional 24/7 freephone crisis counselling helpline Lifeline on 0808 808 8000.
Notes to editor:
- The Public Health Agency (PHA) deliver a number of initiatives to meet specific actions within Protect Life 2: A Strategy for Preventing Suicide and Self Harm in Northern Ireland 2019-2024 (PL2), this includes promoting best practice on memorials, public gatherings and social media postings and enhancing community capacity to prevent and respond to suicide behaviour within communities.
- The PHA works with media and other stakeholders to help promote positive mental health and suicide prevention messages. Part of this work involves monitoring the reporting of attempted suicide, suicide and self-harm issues and raising awareness of the Samaritans’ Media Guidelines for Reporting Suicide and Self-Harm, which provide practical recommendations for reporting suicide across all media. The evidence-based Samaritans’ Media Guidelines on Reporting Suicide and Self-Harm are recognised industry-wide and include helpful reporting tips. They also include information about research and evidence on reporting suicide. They can be accessed here: Samaritans' Media Guidelines
- The PHA commissions the regional 24/7 freephone crisis counselling helpline Lifeline 0808 808 8000. It is available for people of all ages and calls to Lifeline are answered by qualified crisis counsellors. The service also offers up to six face-to-face counselling sessions for those who require it within their community or over the telephone where appropriate.
- The Comkit platform helps to communicate messages developed by the PHA including the existing guidance around memorials following a sudden death that is a suspected suicide.
- Urban Scale Interventions (USI) is a Belfast-based creative studio that use methods of design to tackle challenges in the places we live, work and play. They are a broad team of researchers, designers, architects, technologists and strategists that specialise in projects for social impact. USI developed Comkit though a co-design approach, working with stakeholders, citizens and partners to establish the need, develop the messaging and content and build the toolkit and portal.