Organisations and health practitioners may feel hesitant in knowing how to best support LGBTIQA+ people and/or communities who are experiencing bereavement or loss from suicide. As sector leaders in LGBTIQA+ suicide postvention services, Switchboard Victoria is uniquely placed to deliver a workshop on best practice in working with LGBTIQA+ communities experiencing grief and bereavement.
LGBTIQA+ people can face specific challenges when experiencing loss or bereavement from suicide. Whilst grief is a universal experience, the particular threads that make up the tapestry of LGBTIQA+ identities affect the way we experience loss. The term ‘queer grief’ acknowledges the need to honour our queerness alongside our experiences of bereavement and the particular ways LGBTIQA+ people experience grief, both individually and collectively.
This workshop will explore the ways that we can support an integration of LGBTIQA+ experiences of suicide loss, and how we make meaning and create our stories to better understand those experiences.
At the end of the workshop, participants will be equipped with: