Editorial

Abstract

Welcome to the first edition of SPA e-news for 2010. The New Year brings an increase in activity in the suicide prevention sector, with the Senate Inquiry into Suicide in Australia well underway and the expected release of revised ABS statistics on suicide in March following the review in 2009. This edition focuses on postvention, or support for those left behind following a suicide death. People bereaved in this manner are sometimes referred to as 'suicide survivors.' There are some concerns about the accuracy of this term, in that this could mistakenly mean an individual who had previously attempted suicide and survived their attempt. Other terms are used to describe those who have experienced a suicide death, most commonly 'bereaved by suicide' or a 'person who has lost a loved one to suicide.' Recently the membership of a list of international researchers responded to a question about the most appropriate terminology to use. Within this group no consensus was reached, but clear regional variations were noted. Those Australians on the list most often nominated 'bereaved by suicide,' and this is what I will use here. The number of people who are thought to be bereaved by each suicide death is most often cited as six individuals (Campbell 1997). Those working in the field know this to be grossly inadequate, yet use it in the absence of a more accurate figure. At best, using this number only covers the parents, spouse, children and grandparents of the deceased – the immediate circle of family who will experience grief following the death of a loved one. Still, they are not an insignificant group. Using this very conservative estimation of six people bereaved through each of the more than 2000 suicide deaths that occur in Australia each year, leaves (at a minimum) 12 000 people newly bereaved by suicide each year.