The Finnish non-profit organisation Surunauha ry (Eng. ”Grief Ribbon”) was founded in 1997. Our mission is to support those who have lost loved ones to suicide. We also want to promote open discussion about the matter to reduce prejudice and stigma related to suicide.

Our activities are based on volunteer peer support. We offer support groups across the country. The groups provide a safe and confidential environment to meet others facing the same situation. The group leaders are also peers who have lost loved ones to suicide. We regularly train our supporting volunteers and provide them with work counselling.

We also have a message board, a peer support telephone, group chat every tuesday, and we annually organise a nationwide peer support weekend, Vesova.

Our services are mainly in Finnish, but in Helsinki we also have some functions in Swedish.

If you are interested in receiving peer support in English, or some other language, after a loved one’s suicide, please leave your contact information in this form.

More information on suicides and surviving suicide loss

Traumatic crises (The Finnish Association for Mental Health)
Suicide (The Finnish Assocation for Mental Health)
Survivors of Suicide Loss Fact Sheet (American Association of Suicidology)
Books for suicide loss survivors (American Foundation for Suicide Prevention) 

If you are in need of immediate crisis counselling and guidance, you can contact The Finnish Association for Mental Health’s Crisis helpline in English by calling 09 2525 0116 on Fri 9.00– 13.00. For appointments call (09) 4135 0510. Crisis helpline in Finnish: 09 2525 0111.

You can find the closest public health service from the number 116 117.

Surunauha’s office

Surunauha’s office can be reached from Monday to Friday from 9 am to 3 pm.

Riika Hagman-Kiuru, Executive Director
Administration, media relations
riika.hagman-kiuru@surunauha.net
ph. 040 560 0088

Liisa Ahonen, Program Coordinator
Event planning, communication, social media
toimisto@surunauha.net
ph. 044 977 9428 (incl. WhatsApp)

Teppo Kupias, Volunteer Coordinator
Peer support queries, volunteer training
vertaistuki@surunauha.net
ph. 044 751 9916 (incl. WhatsApp)

Virpi Ropponen, Expert
Youth grief- project 
ns@surunauha.net
ph.044 4939246 (incl. Whatsapp)

Nea Pajala, Office assistant
Office and membership related tasks
toimisto@surunauha.net
ph. 040 54589 54 (incl. Whatsapp)