Supporting staff and workplace responses to suicide: Neami National and Bowra & O’Dea Funeral Directors
Find out how Neami National helped Perth-based Bowra & O’Dea Funeral Directors implement a training program to support workers responding to suicide bereavement, and the impact of this work.
Image 1: Neami National Support
Overview
Bowra & O’Dea Funeral Directors recognised that staff managing funerals of people who died by suicide experienced higher levels of fatigue and distress.
Company leaders and staff collaborated with Neami National to map needs, identifying staff preparedness as a priority.
Bowra & O’Dea developed tailored training to improve staff wellbeing and prevent compassion fatigue, supported by Neami National—to support staff and provide guidance to families experiencing suicide bereavement.
As a result, employees reported feeling significantly improved staff awareness, confidence, communication with those bereaved and willingness to support one another.
Context / Background
The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare reported 3,144 deaths by suicide in 2021. Many workplaces support people who’ve died by suicide in some way, whether through high-risk or high-exposure work in certain industries, such as funeral services.
Bowra & O’Dea Funeral Directors recognised that their staff were often managing funerals for people who had died by suicide, particularly when they conducted several such funerals. Staff found it particularly confronting when services stimulated their own family and friends and those that had occurred more widely.
The company identified they also needed to help their staff manage the particular emotional impact of suicide bereavement in their roles.
Partnership / Approach
Bowra & O’Dea worked with Neami National—a not-for-profit organisation providing mental health, homelessness and suicide prevention services—to design and support their staff teams.
Neami National’s “Suicide Aware” program supports staff development and workplace responses to suicide through training, governance and integration.
The program targeted the unique context and needs of each workplace. It integrates the experience of staff with best practice and tools for ongoing integration. The training helped workers reflect on their daily work and safety obligations to manage the psychological hazards of exposure to suicide.
Implementation (What was done)
Working together, Bowra & O’Dea and Neami National designed and implemented a custom training package to support funeral staff wellbeing.
Ongoing consultation between Neami National and Bowra & O’Dea involved designing trauma-exposure reflection training and support tools for employees and managers.
Results / Impact
An evaluation of the training package found it created genuine benefits for Bowra & O’Dea staff:
• In a post-training survey, 100% of staff said the training and resources helped them to support their own wellbeing.
• The workshop and resource learnings helped them manage the emotional impact of working around suicide funerals.
“As part of our commitment to staff wellbeing, we wanted to explore how to support staff to build resilience and provide a safe workplace where they can talk about the issues that affect them.
The training sessions with Neami National have been invaluable for our staff. Their first learnings and discussions were also received with enthusiasm, with staff also feeling safe to express their experiences.”
Recommendations
Bowra & O’Dea identified three key lessons for all business areas:
• Training should include representation from staff across all business areas.
• Supporting and encouraging conversations across teams helped staff express their feelings and share resources.
• Training and education must be ongoing. In particular, new staff must receive training.
