FOR most people, it is difficult to imagine being in a state of despair so deep and dark that it would drive you to take your own life.

Difficult, too, to imagine what it must be like for those left behind following a loved one's suicide.

The feelings of shock, bewilderment, perhaps even guilt at having failed to spot the signs, must be almost overwhelming.

Yet suicide is more common than we might like to think.

Statistics show that more than 550 people committed suicide in Yorkshire and the Humber in 2013 alone.

Clearly, the priority of mental health services - and of charities that work in the fields of mental health - must be to try to identify those at risk of suicide in time to prevent them taking their own lives.

But we do also need to think of the needs of those left behind after a loved one kills themselves.

The news that the Samaritans and Cruse Bereavement Care are working together to set up support groups for those who have lost loved ones to suicide is very welcome, therefore.

The Face the Future meetings in York will give people who have lost someone to suicide the opportunity to meet others who have gone through the same thing.

"We know how isolating and difficult it can be to experience bereavement following suicide," said a spokeswoman for Cruse. "We hope that in delivering these groups we will be able to make a real difference in people's lives."

We hope so too. At least, through sharing their experiences, those who have been bereaved may learn to accept that what happened was not their fault. That would be at least a starting point from which to begin rebuilding their lives.