Let's Talk About Suicide JOY 94.9 - LGBTI, LGBTIQA+, LGBTQIA+, LGBT, LGBTQ, LGB, Gay, Lesbian, Trans, Intersex, Queer Podcasts for all our Rainbow Communities

This is a short sample of the Let’s Talk About Suicide podcast. You will be able to download all 14 episodes in the series from 30 October, 2019.

Many people are affected by suicide and you may have experienced the suicide of a loved one – a partner, a sibling, a parent, or a friend. It can be incredibly hard to make sense of what has happened, how you can cope with it, and how to recover from it.

This podcast aims to help people like you through this difficult time. We want to provide support, conversation, and comfort to people affected by suicide. This is for anyone affected by a suicide death. But, as rates of suicide in the LGBTIQA+ communities are significantly higher than the general population we’ll be taking the time to talk about how this experience can be different and more complex for people in these communities or their loved ones.

This JOY 94.9 podcast is produced in association with Switchboard Victoria and Support After Suicide.

Listening to this podcast may raise issues for you and if this is the case we would encourage you to contact one of the following services in Australia:



* Qlife: 1800 184 527

* Suicide Call Back Service: 1300 659 467

* Lifeline: 13 11 14

Many people are affected by suicide and you may have experienced the suicide of a loved one – a partner, a sibling, a parent, or a friend. It can be incredibly hard to make sense of what has happened, how you can cope with it, and how to recover from it.

This podcast aims to help people like you through this difficult time. We want to provide support, conversation, and comfort to people affected by suicide. This is for anyone affected by a suicide death. But, as rates of suicide in the LGBTIQA+ communites are significantly higher than the general population we’ll be taking the time to talk about how this experience can be different and more complex for people in these communities or their loved ones.

In this first episode we discuss why we need to talk openly about suicide and suggest some safe language we can all use when talking about it. Knowing how to talk about it in a safe way that might help others while minimising the risks to people around us is the key. Talking about it helps to reduce the stigma around suicide, and it might even mean people are more willing to reach out and get help.

This episode discusses the Mindframe guidelines when talking about suicide: https://mindframe.org.au/suicide/communicating-about-suicide

Listening to this podcast may raise issues for you and if this is the case we would encourage you to contact one of the following services in Australia:



* Qlife: 1800 184 527

* Suicide Call Back Service: 1300 659 467

* Lifeline: 13 11 14

In this episode, our experts are asked that question that you have probably asked or at least thought about: how long will I grieve for? As you might expect, the answer to this question is not straightforward. While there is no timeline on grief and no clear answer to that question, you might be able to take some solace from what Louise says in this episode: “Grief is the price of love. How could we not grieve someone who we have loved and who loved us”.

Listening to this podcast may raise issues for you and if this is the case we would encourage you to contact one of the following services in Australia:



* Qlife: 1800 184 527

* Suicide Call Back Service: 1300 659 467

* Lifeline: 13 11 14

Meet four people who have lost a loved one to suicide: Alice, Beau, Lara, and Peter.

It takes a lot of courage to share such a personal experience and to speak so openly. Even though each of their stories are different, there are lots of common feelings and themes that come through. Listening to their stories can be difficult and heartbreaking, but there might be a level of comfort and reassurance for you in knowing that you are not alone in experiencing these things.

In future episodes, we’ll hear more about their experiences relating to the theme of each episode. You can also download the full length versions of these interviews from joy.org/letstalk or find them in your podcast feed.

Listening to this podcast may raise issues for you and if this is the case we would encourage you to contact one of the following services in Australia:



* Qlife: 1800 184 527

* Suicide Call Back Service: 1300 659 467

* Lifeline: 13 11 14

This episode discusses what you might experience when you are grieving a suicide death. Not only in the initial period after the death, but the weeks, months, and indeed years afterwards. Everybody’s experience is different but there are some similar experiences that people have. It may be the case that the things you normally do to make yourself feel better may not work and you might need to try different things. But know that you need to take it easy on yourself and show some self compassion because what you are experiencing is probably the most traumatic thing you have been through in your life.

Listening to this podcast may raise issues for you and if this is the case we would encourage you to contact one of the following services in Australia:



* Qlife: 1800 184 527

* Suicide Call Back Service: 1300 659 467

* Lifeline: 13 11 14

In this episode, we talk about the stigma associated with suicide.

Stigma is a mark of shame that people project onto others that is misguided and born from a lack of knowledge, prejudice, and discrimination. When talking about suicide, people often feel that there is something shameful about it, or sinful, or even selfish. Both the person who suicided and those they leave behind can be affected by this stigma. Even the language some people use, for example, “committing suicide”, implies there is an element of criminality in the death, that they have done something wrong.

There is also another layer of stigma that members of the LGBTIQA+ communities experience, and one of the consequences of this is that it can be harder for us to connect with and get support from family and professional services.

Listening to this podcast may raise issues for you and if this is the case we would encourage you to contact one of the following services in Australia:



* Qlife: 1800 184 527

* Suicide Call Back Service: 1300 659 467

* Lifeline: 13 11 14