TRIGGER WARNING - This talk involves discussion of suicide.
If you or someone you know needs to talk - visit Samaritans (UK) / samaritans
This is a highlight from our talk 'Grief in the Dark: Bereaved by Suicide' as featured during our October 28 2023 mini-fest 'The Shadow Side of Death'.
Grieving for someone who has taken their own life often involves challenging and complex emotions as well as additional struggles that arise when trying to process that grief. The ripple effect of suicide extends well beyond the person’s immediate family and friends, affecting many of those who knew them on a deep level. In this panel session, three people who have been bereaved by suicide will share their stories including how they came to terms with their profound grief.
Cat White is an actor (Threesome, Ten Percent), writer, filmmaker and gender advisor to the UN. Cat also wrote, directed and played the leading role in short film Fifty-Four Days alongside Celia Imrie. The film focuses on Ruby who starts wild swimming in the wake of her father’s suicide, finding friendship and healing in London’s swimming ponds. The film has picked up awards at Oscar and BAFTA qualifying festivals worldwide.
Tara J Lal is a professional firefighter, published author, and doctoral student. Her memoir Standing on My Brother’s Shoulders - Making peace with Grief and Suicide tracks her journey through a traumatic, grief-filled childhood, to find a life of purpose and meaning. It has now been published internationally and includes a guide to post traumatic growth. Her doctoral research focusses on understanding the impact of suicide on firefighters. She combines her own lived experiences with her research to help people understand how to make meaning from the most challenging events in their lives.
John Niven is the author of eleven books, including Kill Your Friends, The Second Coming and Straight White Male. As a screenwriter his credits include The Trip, Kill Your Friends and How to Build a Girl. His recently published memoir, O Brother, evokes a working-class childhood of the 1970s and 80s and tries to answer the questions of guilt, culpability and regret that often haunt the survivors of suicide.
The panel is hosted by Sasha Bates, a psychotherapist, journalist and podcaster who has written several books on grief including Languages of Loss: A Psychotherapists Journey Through Grief and A Grief Companion.