Mags GarganMags Gargan talks to the people behind a new initiative to equip clergy to support people affected by suicide
Churches are in a unique position to tackle the issue of suicide, from listening and offering support to someone with suicidal feelings, to helping a family through the bereavement of losing a loved one.
‘Flourish! – A Churches’ Initiative on Suicide’ is a new project in the North which taps into that resource through a collaboration developed by Lighthouse (a suicide prevention charity), the Churches’ Community Work Alliance NI and clergy from across the Christian Churches in Northern Ireland in partnership with the Public Health Agency (PHA).
The aim of the initiative is to support Churches to develop a focussed and shared approach to addressing the needs of people affected by suicide, through training, good practice guidelines and cooperation with other groups.
“The prevention of suicide and the pastoral care of the bereaved is something that touches all of us very deeply,” says Bishop Donal McKeown of Derry. “Church-based personnel, who still carry much of the responsibility for dealing with the impact of suicide, need back-up – both to deal with others in pain and to process the pain and stress that that can seep its ways into our hearts as well.
“The Flourish! initiative recognises that support for those on the front line is essential. The emphasis on partnership is a particular strength of this model. Sharing our journeys can help to build relationships – and it is ultimately relationships that will sustain us through difficult times.”
According to the Churches Research Programme (2009), which explored the problems faced by clergy in the delivery of pastoral care to families bereaved by suicide, clergy were often unsure about how to approach a family following suicide. The fear of upsetting or offending families through a misjudged remark was particularly worrying. The findings showed that clergy generally lack any training for dealing with mental illness and suicide, and have little awareness of advice and support services for mental health problems experienced by congregation members.
This research fed into the Protect Life: Northern Ireland Suicide Prevention Strategy 2012-March 2014, which highlighted the important role of community-led suicide prevention and bereavement support services, and became the origin for Flourish!
“I had the privilege of being
included in the Protect Life Strategy and I was aware of the role of Churches around the issue of suicide, but no specific work had been done on it,” says Jo Murphy, Coordinator with Lighthouse.
“Over the years I’ve had requests to do suicide awareness talks and presentations in church halls across the whole of the North and it struck me that we needed to get these Churches working together. I had a chat with Tony Macaulay [author and peace builder] and told him I had a vison for this church work, feeding into the networks that I had built up,” she says.
“We asked ministers and priests to come together for informal chats at the early stages and I couldn’t believe their enthusiasm.”
After the initial talks in 2012, clergy, church youth workers, church lay leaders, lay pastoral workers and other church staff from all the Churches were invited to attend five focus groups held in a range of denominational venues across the five Health Trust areas in 2013 to consult on the initiative.
Consultations
The working group also consulted with the Health Trusts and the PHA, who gave support and feedback from each of these consultations which was incorporated into the development of guidelines and a training directory.
“Lighthouse had approached the PHA to become a partner and to provide resources and financial support to get it up and running, and to complete testing to see if it is effective,” says Gabrielle Nellis, Senior Officer for Health and Social Wellbeing Improvement with the PHA.
“Co-ordinating the training alongside Helen Gibson, we have secured financial funding for Flourish! since 2013 to develop the guidelines, set up a website and develop training, and we also make sure any training matched to PHA quality standards in relation to good practice.”
The initiative received an almost entirely positive response at all of the focus groups. Some participants described a sense of helplessness and inadequacy among clergy in how to respond to suicide due to the stigma around mental illness and saw the initiative as a positive step in addressing this problem.
“Quite often after the funeral is done, the clergy are still left to pick up the pieces following a suicide and quite a lot of them are not equipped to deal with that,” says Eddie McDowell, Director of the Churches’ Community Work Alliance NI.
“Often, the clergy were looking for very basic things. What do you say at a funeral service? Do you name suicide? There were no guidelines given to them and I think a long-term dream of Flourish! is that it becomes embedded in theological colleges and becomes part of Church training, not just for clergy but for youth workers and anyone with a leadership role in the Church,” he says.
In 2014 Flourish! was officially launched at Stormont in Belfast and a directory of guidelines and training was circulated to every member of the clergy in the North.
Faith-based training modules were piloted last year, which were developed collaboratively by Conor McCafferty, Co-Director of the ZEST support agency and Rev. Mervyn Ewing (Methodist).
Conor McCafferty is a psychotherapist and has a degree in theology from his time studying for the priesthood, so he was well suited to the role of developing and delivering the training modules.
“I developed modules on the scriptural side of suicide, pastoral care after suicide and for the suicidal person, and self-care and the importance of looking after yourself,” says Conor.
“What I found delivering the training is that the clergy are very anxious that they might say the wrong thing. But the family remembers you were there, not what you said. They are not really expecting any answers. They are looking for soothing of the pain that they have and it is important not to try and make them feel better; to acknowledge the pain they are going through and try to help in any way you can spiritually and practically. In a lot of cases it is about acknowledging there is no right answer.”
Big revelation
Conor says that self-care of clergy was a big revelation. “The clergy feel responsible for everything and don’t have time for themselves. They are not looking after themselves and wearing themselves out. It is not just about what we give, but what others give us and we give ourselves,” he says.
After the success of the initial round of training Conor is now preparing to give ‘train the trainer’ sessions in March for each denomination, so that they can continue the training internally. There is also a hope among the Flourish! partners that the initiative may go beyond Northern Ireland.
“We’ve had early talks with the Department of Health in the South and I’ve had some phone calls from across the water. People are really interested and it would be a big plus for the future,” Jo Murphy says.
“Personally, I am so proud and passionate about it. Working in partnership is key and has been a big strength in Flourish! I am so lucky to work with amazing people and people at very senior levels have been lovely and welcomed Flourish! But there is still a big stigma around mental health. We need to be more open to talk about it and break those barriers and the Churches are key to that.”
For further information on Flourish! visit www.wewillFlourish.com
Six steps clergy can take to reduce suicide risk
1. Acknowledge your role in suicide prevention as a faith community leader.
2. Identify people who may be at risk of suicide.
3. Respond sensitively to people who may be at risk of suicide.
4. Support people at risk of suicide to seek the help they need from health professionals.
5. Be prepared to respond to a suicide death appropriately.
6. Consider getting involved in positive emotional wellbeing and mental health promotion and suicide prevention efforts in your local community.