Our vision and work
The Support after Suicide Partnership was founded in 2013 to transform the support people impacted by suicide receive in the UK. We are on a mission to ensure every area of the country has excellent, local bereavement support services, which offer timely and appropriate support to anyone impacted by suicide. We campaign to make suicide bereavement support a sustainable, long term national and local priority, and we work with our nationwide network of members and partners to achieve our Vision that:
‘Everyone bereaved or affected by suicide is offered timely and appropriate support’
Our Work
Everything we do is driven by our Vision and we are working to make sure that excellent suicide bereavement support is available in every area of the UK. We are a membership organisation, and add value to our members’ by providing information and resources, as well as opportunities to share good practice and be involved in our work. Our Vision is supported by a compelling case and we are all working to set the global standard for suicide bereavement support. We are doing this in four areas, which are summarised below and a copy of our 2020 Business Plan is here.
Increasing the capacity of local suicide bereavement support
We all believe there need to be proactive services throughout the country and so we are working closely with NHS England on their Long Term Plan to ensure that every area of England has a proactive suicide bereavement support service by 2024. This means that people are offered support within 72 hours of a death by suspected suicide. We have been appointed to provide implementation support for this ambitious programme and have also developed a Central Hub, which provides important information, resources and support for both the current services and those being implemented over the coming years.
Connecting organisations and stakeholders
When a suicide happens, it impacts whole communities. Therefore, the response needs to be community-wide too. We work to ensure that the support infrastructure in the UK provides people with the support they need, when they need it.
Ensuring service provision is sustainable
We work to ensure there are robust measurement and evaluation frameworks, which enable services to know where they are on their journey to excellence at any point in time, and how SASP might support this journey. We support services to be recognised as integral parts of their communities, and good value for commissioners. We support them to exceed their own standards of service delivery.
It is important that our SASP network is at the forefront of good practice and current thinking and understands what excellence looks like.
Our Values
It’s really important that we implement excellent, new support services, but, as important, is the way this is achieved. Our values reflect how we work and are shared right across our network. We always strive to meet the highest ethical standards, and to always be:
Connective
We are a network that brings people together around a common goal. We provide opportunities for people to connect to others in the field, to strengthen their networks
Collaborative
We facilitate and encourage cross-sector organisations to work together towards our Vision. We provide opportunities for organisations to learn from each other, share best practice, and be part of a wider conversation
Inclusive
We believe anyone impacted by suicide should be offered timely and appropriate support; regardless of age, race, sexual orientation, wealth, background, the way they are impacted, or any other personal factor.We welcome organisations big and small, who share our values, to work with us to achieve our vision. We put lived experience at the heart of our work.
Progressive
We actively guide and encourage people to grow on their journey to be the best they can be. We drive change in UK policy and infrastructure to raise the profile and awareness of how to support people impacted by suicide
Supportive
We give people the resources to provide excellent services, and support them on their journey to quality practice