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The Lens of Loss: Perspectives of Family Members Following Suicide Loss
When we think about the suicide of a loved one, we think of profound loss, of grief, of finding a way to endure amid unyielding pain. But we gain something in the aftermath, one nearly as burdensome. It is a new perspective: Loss becomes a lens through which life is lived. And it can be difficult...
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Circle of Grief: Inspired Survivor Speaks Openly About Suicide
I walked into the “survivors of suicide” group physically aching and emotionally doubled over in pain. The group – people who’d had a loved one die by suicide – sat in a circle of folding chairs in a pleasant if nondescript meeting room. This was my first visit, a trial effort at relief...
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Preventing Suicide Among Suicide Attempt Survivors Using an Innovative Support Group Intervention
Despite ongoing prevention efforts, suicide remains a public health crisis, with reports showing an alarming increase in suicide rates over the past decade in the United States (Hedegaard, Curtin, Warner, 2018). From 1999 to 2017, the age-adjusted suicide rate increased by 33%. In 2018, suicide was...
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From the Publisher: A Personal Journey From a Survivor of Suicide: “From the Depths of Despair to a Mission of Advocacy”
I was drifting in and out of consciousness in the emergency room. “You have to drink this,” someone was saying as they held a tall plastic cup to my lips, filled with a tasteless ink-black liquid. I later learned that the charcoal drink was given to me to absorb the toxic soup that was in my...
