The difficult task of helping those who have been bereaved by suicide is the subject of a regional conference this week.

Organised by the Tees Valley branch of the Cruse Bereavement Care group the one-day event in Darlington has attracted speakers from as far afield as Australia and Holland.

The organisation's second annual conference follows the launch of the Government's suicide prevention strategy last November.

A regional version of the strategy was published in February this year.

Ian Rogers, spokesman for Cruse, said: "Our aim is to increase awareness of bereavement issues to all areas of the community. To help achieve this we have enlisted international speakers and workshop facilitators who have wide and varied academic, professional and personal experiences."

The two main speakers are Dr Marc Cleiren from the Netherlands and Dr Glennys Howarth from the universities of Bath and Melbourne.

Both have worked in the field of bereavement for more than 15 years and published numerous books and articles on the subject.

"It is an essential event for all those work in areas of loss and bereavement and specifically those who come into contact with people who have been bereaved by suicide," said Mr Rogers.

Delegates will have the opportunity of attending two out of five workshops.

The conference will be held on Friday May 16th at Morton Park Conference Centre, Darlington. The programme will run from 9.30am to 4.40pm.

The fee is £80 per delegate and a limited number of places are still available. Further information and booking forms can be obtained from Brenda Mills on 01325 252777.