Hope & Help - the rainbows

Over the years, SBS members have shared many experiences and ideas of what helps them in the toughest times and this has become a really useful feature of our closed Facebook Group. Back in September, with various events approaching, including Supporting Each Other Through Loss in Barrow, SBS Cumbria needed a simple printed item that included brief background and contact details and that could be handed out to visitors.

Postcards seemed an ideal format and Emily Griffiths and Hazel, our Admin support, came up with the idea of creating a rainbow from some of those ideas – combining the Help of the suggestions with the Hope of a rainbow.

one of two rainbows created and used on postcards to share SBS Cumbria contact information

“The idea for the rainbows came initially from our wanting to be able to share something about the nature of our group on literature which (in conjunction with our leaflet) could be used at events. We are increasingly having the opportunity to attend health and wellness fairs and then there are Frank’s ukulele sessions and attendance at things like the SBUK conference,” says Emily. “The hope is that not only are we providing information so that people can find our website, Facebook page etc but we are also showing we understand what others who are suicide bereaved are going through and want to offer practical and emotional support. We get it!” 

Emily did the initial work of looking through the group conversation on Facebook to find the various ideas, comments and suggestions. “I realised there was SO much love, support and advice shared between us, which has then formed the basis of not one but two rainbows!”

The ideas have been collated to capture as many as possible and edited where needed to ensure confidentiality since the closed Group is solely for those who are suicide bereaved.   

there were sufficient ideas and suggestions to create a second rainbow

Emily describes the range of ideas: “For me, it was good to be reminded of the simplest things that are often the most helpful. For example, ‘Take one day at a time’, ‘Don’t be too hard on yourself’, and ‘Accept that there will be tearful times’. If you look closely, you’ll also see an acknowledgement that sometimes you do just need to scream.”

A few of the ideas talk about reading poetry or books with special meaning, listening to music and writing prose and poetry of your own. “There is one suggestion that I’d not thought of that makes a lot of sense to me too,” says Emily, “and that’s to create a thought diary where you write some of the not-so-nice things down when they come into your head. Then, if the same thought re-occurs, you can say ‘already wrote that down’ and push back.”

Both rainbows are included here as illustrations and there are lots of suggestions for books, music and other support on our Resources pages. If you or someone you know is suicide bereaved and might like to join the closed Group on Facebook (or join one of our monthly meetings), please get in touch with us at hello@sbs.org.uk and we can go from there.