Coping and Meaning Making Following Suicide Bereavement: Perspectives from Survivors and Practitioners

Abstract

This aim of this study was to gain a better understanding of the experience of suicide bereavement and how coping and meaning making occurs. Additionally, the use of spirituality as a means of coping and making sense of suicide was studied. This is a new area that has been previously unexamined in suicide bereavement research. Using the methodology of transactional phenomenology, the experience of suicide bereavement was studied from the perspectives of those bereaved by suicide, mental health practitioners who work with the bereaved, and a cross-over group of survivors who were also practitioners. Results show that survivors and practitioners are in agreement on many aspects of coping and meaning making following suicide bereavement. However, there are also instances where these groups provided differing insights. Perspectives between groups are compared and several best practices when working with those bereaved by suicide are presented and discussed.