You Are Not Alone in This

If you're here reading this, you or a loved one might be in one of the darkest places a person can find themselves. Whether its thinking about suicide or losing a loved one to suicide and are struggling with grief that feels impossible to bare. Either way, I want you to know; I've been where you are, and you are not alone.

My understanding of suicide is from my own lived experience. I know what it feels like when the pain becomes so overwhelming. That ending it seems like the only option. I also know what it's like to lose someone precious to suicide and feel the complex grief that follows. This knowledge, born from my own journey through these darkest moments, is what I bring to this sacred work.

I know the experience of feeling like a burden and not wanting to reach out. As I know the feeling of losing someone to suicide. Both experiences made me realise it’s imperative to connect with another that has walked a similar path. The mutual understanding and connection of another; not feeling so alone. I offer this work because I have been there; and I offer hope that people can come back from the deepest pain. That survivors of suicide and loss can find meaning again.

I have worked with people that struggle with suicidal thoughts, attempts and have had losses for the last 12 years in our local community.

Within one connection I can offer you hope and empower you to want to live and get back on track. I am also STARS licensed, Systematic Tailored Assessment for Responding to Suicidality ASIST trained and Accredited as a Mental Health First Aider.

Suicide Prevention Support: When You're Struggling

I Understand Because I've Been There

When you're contemplating suicide, well-meaning people often say things like "it gets better", "think of all you have to live for" or “think positive” While these words come from love, they can feel hollow when you're in so much pain.

I offer you someone who has been exactly where you are, felt a similar pain and suffering, and somehow found a way through. Not because I'm strong, but because I have learnt, that even in our darkest moments, there are tiny seeds of possibility we may not be able see ourselves.

Many who find me say I’m their last stop — the one they come to when nothing else has worked. If that’s where you are, please don’t give up.

You are not a burden; you are not alone. There is still hope — even if you can’t feel it right now.

You don’t have to be and feel so alone, I am here to walk with you.

HOPE.

Hold

On

Pain

Eases

What Suicide Prevention Support Looks Like

Meeting You Exactly Where You Are - No judgment about your thoughts, your pain, or how you've been coping. Suicidal thoughts are a sign of overwhelming emotional pain, not weakness or failure.

Creating Safety Together - We'll work together to identify what keeps you safe, build coping strategies that work for you, and create a support network you can trust.

Honoring Your Pain - Your suffering is real and valid. We won't minimize it or rush you through it, but we will find ways to make it more bearable moment by moment.

Building Reasons to Stay - Not the big philosophical reasons, but the small, real things that might matter to you.

Practical Planning - Real strategies for those moments when everything feels impossible, including who to call, what to do, and how to ride out the waves of intense emotion.

Hope Through Connection - The powerful message that if someone like me, who once felt as hopeless as you may, can find reasons to stay and ways to get through, then perhaps there's hope for you too.

If you feel you are in crisis right in this moment, please reach out 000 or Lifeline 13 11 14 or if it feels too difficult to talk text 0477 13 11 14; otherwise get in touch with me.

Postvention Support: After Losing Someone to Suicide

The Grief That Has No Name

Losing someone to suicide creates a unique kind of grief - one that's complicated by questions, guilt, anger, and a pain that feels different from other losses. People often don't know what to say, which can leave you feeling even more isolated. I know this grief well, because I've lived it.

The questions that haunt us, the guilt we continue to feel, ruminating thoughts - "What if I had called that day?" "Did they know how much I loved them?" "Could I have prevented this?" - I've asked them all.

The anger at your person for leaving, followed immediately by guilt for being angry, the way others seem to move on while you're still hurting - I understand all of it.

What Postvention Support Offers

Permission to Feel Everything - Grief after suicide is complicated, and often contradictory. You might feel relief, anger, love, guilt, and despair all at the same time. All these feelings are normal and welcome here.

Someone Who Gets the Questions - The endless "what ifs" and "if only" that torture survivors of suicide loss. We can sit with these questions together without needing to answer them all.

Understanding Complicated Grief - Grief after suicide often doesn't follow the stages of grief people talk about. It's more like waves that knock you down when you least expect it.

Navigating Others' Reactions - People avoid mentioning your person or expect you to "move on" according to their timeline. We'll work through how to handle these interactions.

Honouring Your Person - Finding ways to remember and celebrate your loved one that feel authentic to you, beyond what others think is "appropriate."

Rebuilding Meaning - Many suicides loss survivors struggle with finding purpose after such a devastating loss. Together, we can explore what gives your life meaning now and how your experience might serve others.

Connecting with Other Survivors - If you're ready, connecting with others who truly understand this unique form of loss can be incredibly healing. i can assist facilitate this.

Why Lived Experience Matters in Suicide

The Power of "I've Been There"

When you're in crisis or grieving a suicide loss, you need more than professional training - you need someone who truly understands. There's something profound that happens when someone who has contemplated suicide themselves sits with you in your darkest moment, or when someone who has lost a loved one to suicide witnesses your grief.

I bring to this work:

• Authentic hope - not theoretical hope, but the lived reality that healing is possible

• Real understanding - of the thoughts, feelings, and experiences that others might find frightening or hard to comprehend

• Practical strategies - tools and approaches that have been tested in the fire of actual experience

• Reduced shame - when someone who has been where you are shows no judgment, it's easier to be honest about your struggles

• Lived Experience - that people can survive suicidal thoughts, attempts and suicide loss can go on to live meaningful lives

Safety and Professional Boundaries

While one of my approaches is deeply personal and based on lived experience, I maintain clear boundaries and safety protocols. This includes:

• Safety planning and risk assessment

• Connection with professional mental health resources when needed

• Crisis intervention protocols

• Understanding when additional support is necessary

 I'm offering something different and complementary: the healing that comes from authentic human connection with someone who has walked this path.

You Don't Have to Walk This Alone

Whether you're struggling with thoughts of suicide or grieving someone who died by suicide, you don't have to carry this burden alone. There is hope, there is help, and there are people who understand - really understand - what you're going through.

If you're contemplating suicide, please know that the unbearable pain you're feeling right now can change. If you're grieving a suicide loss, please know that while the love and the sadness may always be with you, the crushing weight of early grief can lift.

I've walked both paths, and I'm here to walk alongside you on yours. In addition to my own experiences. I have also had a myriad of training to provide this support and have worked in a professional capacity for the last twelve years for organisations specialising is suicide prevention and postvention. I am also member of Suicide Prevention Australia.