Offering hope, comfort and support for survivors of suicide loss.
There’s no denying we live in a digital world – which can make our lives more efficient and also unnecessarily complicated. The blessing and curse of “smart” technology really hit me after my dad’s death. Weeks before he died, I created an account with Ancestry.com in hopes of piecing together the story of our family’s history. I wanted to learn where in Italy my dad’s grandparents came from and also uncover the many countries my mom’s relatives ...
Every once in a while, I come across news or other revelations that help me piece together the puzzle of my dad’s suicide. Even though I’ll never have the puzzle solved, I do find some comfort in this information when I find it. This week, the Huffington Post reported findings of a study that showed a ‘clear rise in the number of suicides globally in 2009,’ one year after the global financial crisis. In the U.S., this impact was felt most heavily ...
I recently bought several books related to suicide and depression and the first one I started reading was The Suicide Index by Joan Wickersham. It’s a great book—an “index” of everything related to her father’s suicide and her methodical process of trying to figure out his story and the reasons that made him end his life. She details the day of—from her dropping her son off at her in-laws, to how she’ll feel about seeing her Mom, to the emotions ...
My counselor told me that the people who grieved the healthiest were the ones who were able to have a relationship with their loved ones after their death. She said it especially helped during the holidays, which as we all know, are some of the hardest times to deal with after losing a loved one to suicide. She gave me a list of things that I could try: visiting the cemetery, sharing a story about him with the family I was celebrating with, ...
In honor of National Suicide Prevention Day (Sept. 10) and week (Sept. 8-14), we wanted to share some of the helpful articles and resources we’ve identified through the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP). This is a tough week for survivors because we have experienced the terrible tragedy of losing a loved one to suicide. Many of us feel if there was ANYTHING we could have done to prevent our friend or family member from taking ...
