Making Norfolk the 'gold standard' in suicide prevention and bereavement care is the aim of new course launched by a Norfolk funeral home.

Rosedale Funeral Home's new training sessions, which it believes is the first of its kind, as it is aimed at services and individuals who support those bereaved through suicide.

The home offers Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training (ASIST) course helps healthcare providers how to recognise when someone may have thoughts of suicide and how to create a plan to support them.

Anne Beckett-Allen, director of Rosedale Funeral Home, said specialist resources needed to be made more readily to support families.

She said: "As funeral directors, we are one of the first people that a family contact after a loss and it is important that we are able to listen and communicate non-judgementally, use appropriate language and not make assumptions.

"There is very little specialist support out there for the adults, which makes it even more crucial that professionals up their game and have good resources available and that staff have the knowledge and skills that they need to plug the gap in support.

"At Rosedale we believe that everyone bereaved or affected by suicide should be offered timely and appropriate support, and as well as resources available on our website and in our children's book baskets."

Following the closure of services including the Norfolk Survivors of Bereavement through Suicide, staff felt there was little support for adults.

It praised the work of children's bereavement charity Nelsons Journey, which in 2019 saw 12pc of its referrals related to suicide.

Lucy Coote, community ambassador for Rosedale, said: "Making Norfolk the gold standard is our aim. Our aim is that at some point we will have other councils come on this training so they can deliver this training within their county.

"There is still a lot of stigma and people feel ostracised and there is still a lot of shame around suicide."

The business has a book called Help is at Hand which is written by people who have been bereaved and affected by suicide and is available to take away.

Rosedale Funeral Home has premises across Norfolk including Attleborough, Beccles, Bungay, Diss, Halesworth and Wymondham.

Courses will be held in the new year, with free training for bereavement support taking place in February, May and July.

Visit www.rosedaletraining.co.uk to find out more.