Absolutely nothing prepares you for loss by suicide. For all of us who set up the charity, it’s so important to do something in honour & in memory of those we lost, and we can only hope through our own experience, we can offer some support through the darkest of days.
We reached out to friends and family who all have experienced loss in this way and asked them to describe their most prominent emotions in the following months. The common feelings were Blame, Anger, Guilt and Sadness.
Why?
We were struck by the lack of accessible support for families and friends in the aftermath of loss by suicide and having reached out to others who have been through similar circumstances, we realised that our experience was not unique. Whilst there are a range of services “out there”, the issue appears to be a lack of knowledge/accessibility/geographical variation/timeliness of these.
In response, we have subsequently established BAGS for Strife – a charity that is steered and led by a group of people with their own lived experience of suicide and its aftermath.
What?
We know that everyone’s experience of grief and loss is unique. Some people may want help in the first few days to navigate their way through the practical elements that must be faced, others may want to reach out for emotional support, and some may stumble and fall weeks or months or years after their tragedy.
BAGs will provide practical and emotional support both for the short and long term.
