APP support
APP runs an award-winning peer support service, connecting women and families throughout the UK to volunteers who have experienced postpartum psychosis. Our National Coordinators Ellie Ware, Jenny Stevenson and Simon O’Mara, oversee the service which includes an online forum; in-person and online café groups; and one-to-one email, phone and video call support. Please do also get in contact if you would like a chat with our staff about PP, its causes and impacts.
We have a small team of bereaved family volunteers. Volunteers are people who have each lost someone in their family and includes husbands and partners, mothers, fathers as well as adults who lost their mothers as a result of PP when they were children. Our volunteers say that being able to talk to someone in this way at the time of their bereavement would have been so helpful for them.
Get in contact at app@app-network.org if you would like to talk via video call or email to someone else who has been where you are. You could also join our monthly group for bereaved families.
Helpful resources
Click/tap a heading for information.
Supportive organisations for adults
ANDYSMANCLUB: facilitates peer to peer support groups across the UK for men aged 18 and over to talk about their mental health.
Survivors of Bereavement by Suicide (SoBS): Support for people over 18.
The Compassionate Friends: Support, advice and counselling for bereaved parents.
Organisations providing grief support and information
At a Loss: UK bereavement signposting website.
Bags of Strife: A project sending out free bags containing a special selection of items to support people bereaved by suicide.
Cruse Bereavement Support: UK charity focussing on bereavement support, information and campaigning.
MIND: National charity. Its website includes information on helping yourself and others cope with grief.
National Bereavement Service: Provides practical and emotional assistance after a death.
NHS: Information about the stages of grief and links to help for personal mental health after losing someone.
Suicide&Co: Runs a helpline and counselling service. The website also has information and resources to help navigate suicide-related grief.
Supportive organisations for children
Alfie’s Squad: Online and in-person peer support for suicide bereaved children aged 8-17.
Childhood Bereavement Network: Hub for those supporting bereaved children and young people.
Child Bereavement UK: Support and information for children, young people, adults and families following bereavement.
Grief Encounter: Supports bereaved children and young people.
Winston’s Wish: For bereaved children, young people and their families and professionals supporting them.
Local resources/services
Amparo: For people affected by suicide in Cheshire & Merseyside, Coventry & Warwickshire, Kent & Medway, Lancashire, Lincolnshire, Mid and South Essex, North Central London, South Yorkshire, Southampton, Hampshire, the Isle of Wight and Portsmouth, Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent, Thames Valley.
Harry’s Rainbow: Supports bereaved children and families in Bedfordshire, Luton and Milton Keynes.
Pete’s Dragons: Runs support services for anyone impacted by suicide in Devon and North Somerset.
Shining a Light on Suicide: For anyone struggling with suicidal thoughts or bereaved by suicide in Greater Manchester.
Slide Away: Supporting bereaved children in Kent.
Suicide Prevention
Grassroots Suicide Prevention: Free, anonymous Stay Alive app and life-saving resources.
National Suicide Prevention Alliance: Alliance of public, private, voluntary and community organisations in England who work to prevent suicide and support families affected by suicide.
National Suicide Prevention Helpline: Lines are open every day from 6pm until midnight: 0800 689 5652.
Papyrus: Prevention of young suicide (for those under 35 years old), including HOPELINE247, a confidential support and advice service for children and young people call: 0800 068 4141 or text: 07860 039 967.
The Samaritans: Runs 24-hour helpline – call 116 123.
Sane: UK charity providing emotional support and information to anyone affected by mental illness.
Shout: A 24-hour UK text messaging service for times when people feel they need immediate support. Text 85258.
SOS Silence of Suicide: National suicide prevention and emotional wellbeing helpline.
Staying Safe: Online tool to help build a safety plan.
SupportLine: Provides a confidential helpline offering emotional support to any individual on any issue. Helpline: 01708 765200 (currently open Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays from 6pm to 8pm, check website for latest).
Practical help
Acas: Advice for employees, including guidance on dependents leave.
British Association of Counselling and Psychotherapy: Contains a directory to find counsellors.
Citizens Advice: Offers help dealing with the financial affairs of someone who has died.
Inquest: Free and independent advice for bereaved people following a death in state care or detention in England and Wales.
The Law Society: Help finding the right legal representation.
Turn2Us: Information about benefits, grants or other financial support available if you are recently bereaved.
Making Families Count: Aims to improve outcomes for families affected by serious harm and traumatic bereavements in health and social care services.
Money Helper: Offers free money guidance.
National Debtline: National, free debt support.
Perinatal Legal Project: A group of barristers, solicitors, academics and mental health professionals with an interest in the law as it applies to women during pregnancy and post-birth.
Shelter: Help with housing problems.
Books and online resources
There are many books and online resources on grief available. This is a selection.
A book just for me. A grief journal for children under 12 (with accompanying notes for parents) and My grief journal – for grieving teens. Free, downloadable resources for children and teens bereaved by suicide, produced by StandBy Support After Suicide in Australia.
Finding Your Own Way to Grieve by Karla Helbert contains useful and accessible information and activities to help children and young people on the autism spectrum understand their feelings, and the feelings of those around them. Available from Amazon.
Helping Your Child With Loss and Trauma: A self-help guide for parents by David Trickey, the founder of Trauma Council UK. The book is a self-help guide that provides evidence-informed advice for parents about how to support children when they encounter difficulties with bereavement and trauma. Available from Amazon.
Luna’s Red Hat by Emmi Smid. Illustrated storybook to help young children cope with loss and suicide. It is suitable for children aged 6+ and is written for anyone working with or caring for children bereaved by suicide. Available from Amazon.
Missing Mummy: A Book About Bereavement by Rebecca Cobb (UK: Macmillan, 2011). Illustrated picture book covering some of the potential worries, concerns and misunderstandings that children faced by the death of a parent might experience. Available from Amazon.
Red Chocolate Elephants Book and accompanying DVD compiled by Australian suicide bereavement expert Dr Diana Sands for primary-aged children after suicide loss. It is intended to be read with an adult and was compiled with the help of children who lost a parent to suicide. Available from Amazon.
Support After Suicide Partnership, Help is at Hand guide. People who have been bereaved by suicide have used their experiences for this support guide to help others affected by someone taking their own life. Published by the Support After Suicide Partnership (SASP) with support from Public Health England and the National Suicide Prevention Alliance (NSPA) and downloadable here.
You Will Be Okay by clinical psychologist and founder of Winston’s Wish, Julie Stokes. It’s an accessible and comforting mix of stories, suggestions, support and activities to help young people understand and work through their grief. Suitable for ages 12-16 years. Available from Amazon.
When It Is Darkest: Why People Die by Suicide and What We Can Do to Prevent it by Rory O’Connor. This book wishes to dispel unhelpful myths about suicide and increase understanding on the subject. Available from Amazon.