Bereaved sister sets up suicide support group

Roz Thompson has set up a Scarborough branch of Survivors of Bereavement by Suicide

The sister of a woman who died by suicide has started a group to support other family members in the same situation.

Roz Thompson, from Scarborough, set up the local branch of the Survivors of Bereavement by Suicide charity this year after the death of her sibling, Ali.

When Ali took her own life three years ago, Ms Thompson – who was asked to identify the body of her younger sister - found there was little support available.

“I got to a point where I didn’t really know who I was anymore. Ali took her life in the July and I didn’t really go back to work till after Christmas. I kept thinking I was ready but I just wasn’t,” she said.

Ms Thompson’s closest branch of Survivors of Bereavement by Suicide (SOBS) was in York, but she said it was too far to travel while she was grieving.

“I was just not in a fit state to travel,” she said.

“Any grief is of course awful, but with suicide you’ve got the added 'why'. What could I have done? The massive guilt. The ‘I wish I could have done this… Why didn’t I notice that…’

“That replays over and over in your head and it takes a long time to find a way through that.”

Roz Thompson adopted her sister's dog Wallace

Ms Thompson and her husband Mark began to meet others who had also been bereaved by suicide by talking openly about their experience.

One of the group's founding members, Ryan, lost his brother to suicide aged 13. He said there was little help before the SOBS branch began.

“There are services for bereavement but suicide is a different level of bereavement because it’s such a raw, powerful thing,” he said.

“Not many people understand it. So it’s basically just through kinship and finding Roz.”

Roz Thompson described Ali as funny and very loving

The first meeting of the group will be held at a private location on Monday.

SOBS is a national charity that helps individuals support each other through peer-to-peer support. It is not a professional counselling service.

Ms Thompson said Ali was an "amazing sister" and she has adopted her dog Wallace, who reminds her of Ali every day.

“If she was in the room, everybody knew she was in the room. She was funny, very loving and a complete whirlwind,” she said.

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