The need for best practices among Suicide Bereavement Support Groups (SBSG) has been highlighted at two recent national meetings, and there is a key resource on the topic, available from Lifeline Australia, that deserves consideration by SBSG facilitators everywhere: Towards Good Practice: Standards and Guidelines for Suicide Bereavement Support Groups.
Towards Good Practice ... [was] developed through wide consultation with people working with suicide bereavement support groups and with experts working in the field of Postvention ... [and] a separate literature review was undertaken ... The development of the Standards & Guidelines for SBSGs ... is based on existing research evidence and practice evidence available in the field (from the introduction to the companion book, Practice Handbook: Suicide Bereavement Support Group Facilitation).
These standards and guidelines (see the table of contents, below) are arguably the best starting place for discussions in the United States and elsewhere about improving the quality and effectiveness of mutual-help support groups for survivors of suicide loss.
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