www.zerosuicidealliance.com/about

Suicide prevention for churches (SPFC) is intended to support churches in their efforts to prevent suicide. Suicide prevention is important, therefore the resources and conversational tips from SPFC on this site are available to be used for free.

SPFC is an initiative led by Willem van den Berg, a mental healthcare professional who is specialized in suicide prevention.

Why suicide prevention for churches? One reason for setting up SPFC is that the church is rarely mentioned in the courses that are currently available even though ministers and church leaders are often close to people and are easy to approach. They tend to have stable positions within church communities and often know several generations of the same families. In addition, people generally find it easier to approach a minister or pastor with questions than other care workers. Another reason is that suicide involves questions about life and often religion. Furthermore, suicide prevention can involve Christian ethics, spiritual insight, and deliverance from demonic curses. Secular courses do not provide this and cannot be expected to either.

For more information read “conversational tips”

“SUICIDEPREVENTION for CHURCHES”. In Heerenveen, the Netherlands. This is a translation of the original text and website, available on suicidepreventievoorkerken.nl. This document may be used freely as printscreen if it is kept unchanged and the source is mentioned. Design by Willem van den Berg 2015.