A more informal way to speak about a loved one's death is to write a blog for our website. This can be a helpful way to express the emotional and practical difficulties of dealing with the death of a loved one and the legal investigations and processes that follow. 

Your stories can also show other bereaved families that they are not alone, and can help change attitudes about people in prison, police custody, immigration and mental health care. If you want to write a blog please get in touch by contacting [email protected].

Guidance on writing a blog for INQUEST

Who?

We welcome blogs from bereaved families and friends affected by state related deaths or deaths involving multi-agency failures. These include deaths in police custody, in prison, in immigration detention, deaths involving mental health services and disasters such as the Grenfell Tower Fire and the Hillsborough Disaster.

You don't need to have received support from INQUEST to contribute. 

Topic

The first thing to think about is what you want to talk about. You should narrow down the issues and think about three clear points you want to make. For example, do you want to talk about the care your relative received or your struggle to get properly funded legal representation at your inquest.

Structure

You should aim for a blog around 600-800 words. Think about how you want to begin and end your blog. What is the first think you want a person to read, how will you draw them in? You can also include examples and how something made you feel as this will provide a more engaging account of the issues you want to flag. Example: “It was 10:00am on Thursday and I remember my head was racing with all kinds of thoughts”

Tone

Always speak in the way you feel most comfortable, and try to be as simple and honest as you can be. Sometimes it is helpful to just write without stopping as this allows you to put all your thoughts down on paper before going back to edit it.

Publishing

To ensure the final blog is clear and easy to read, we may edit it slightly. If you want your name, twitter handle and photo to be published alongside the blog please send us your details in an email.

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See some examples of our blogs for inspiration!