Suicide Loss
Every suicide is a tragedy that affects families, communities and countries and has long-lasting effects on the people left behind.
Resources re: Suicide Loss and Postvention
Books for Clinicians:
Grad, O.T. (2017). Postvention in Action: The International Handbook of Suicide Bereavement Support.
Jordan, John R. & McIntosh, John L. (2015). Grief after Suicide: Understanding the consequences and caring for the survivor.
Rynearson, Edward (2001). Retelling Violent Death.
Singer, Jonathan, Poland, Scott, & Erbacher, Terri (2014), Suicide in the Schools: A Practitioner’s Guide to Multi-level Prevention, Assessment, Intervention, and Postvention.
Books for Adults:
Ashton, J. (2019). Life after Suicide: Finding Comfort & Community after Unthinkable Loss.
Baugher, Bob & Jordan, John (2016). After Suicide Loss: Coping with your grief. Bolton, Iris (1984). My Son…My Son…A guide to healing after a suicide in the family. Bolton, Iris (2017). Voices of Hope and Healing: Conversations on Grief after Suicide. Fine, Carla (1997). No Time To Say Goodbye: Surviving the suicide of a loved one.
Fine, Carla & Michael Myers, MD (2006). Touched by Suicide: Hope and healing after loss.
Joiner, Thomas (2011). Myths about Suicide.
Joiner, Thomas (2007). Why People Die by Suicide.
Heilmann, Lena M.Q. (2019). Still with us: Voices of sibling suicide loss survivors Knapp, Richard & Pincus, J. David (2019). Sons of Suicide: A memoir of friendship Linn-Gust, Michelle & Cerel, Julie (2011). Seeking hope: Stories of the bereaved
Linn-Gust, Michelle (2010). Rocky Roads: The Journey of Families through Suicide Grief
Rappaport, Nancy (2011) In Her Wake: A Child Psychiatrist Explores the Mystery of Her Mother’s Suicide
Rose, Sheralyn (2015). Suicide Tsunami: Living in the Aftermath
For Adults Supporting Children:
Stubbs, D. & Stikes, J. (2008) (2nd ED). Beyond the rough rock: Supporting the child who has been bereaved by suicide. London, UK: Winston’s Wish.
Requarth, Margo (2006). After a Parent’s Suicide: Helping Children Heal.
Montgomery, Sarah & Coale, Susan (2015). Supporting Children after a Suicide Loss: A Guide for Parents and Caregivers.
Rubel, Margo (2020), But I Didn’t Say Goodbye: Helping Families After a Suicide.
Children’s Books
Agell, Charlotte (2019). Maybe Tomorrow (picture book about coping with loss) Cammatata, Doreen (2009). Someone I Love Died By Suicide.
Cave, Kathrym (2020). You’ve Got Dragons
Chalifour, Francis (2005). After (teens+). Fifteen year-old boy’s memoir about the loss of his father to suicide. Dougy Center (2014). After a Suicide Death: A activity book for grieving kids.
Karst, Patrice (2018). The Invisible String (wonderful for continuing bonds—all ages)
Karst, Patrice (2019) The Invisible String Workbook: Creative activities to comfort, calm and connect.
Loehr, Carole Ann (2006). My Uncle Keith Died (provides an example of explaining suicide loss to children; includes a discussion guide for parents re: how to talk with children).
Miller, Pat Zietlow (2019). When You Are Brave
Rowland, Joanna (2020). The Memory Book: A grief journal for children and families.
Rubenstein, Lauren (2013). Visiting Feelings (mindfulness approach to exploring feelings)
Smid, Emmi (2015). Luna’s Red Hat: An illustrated storybook to help children cope with loss and suicide.
Paradis, Susan (2019). Edna (picture book about an elephant with worries- all ages).
Servaty-Seib,Heather and Fagenbaum, David (2015). We Get It: Voices of College Students and Young Adults (18+). Includes stories of suicide loss.
Witek, Jo (2014). In My Heart: A book of feelings.
Young, Karen (2016). Hey Warrior; (2018) Hey Awesome (books explaining anxiety and a strengths-based approach)
For more book recommendations: https://afsp.org/find-support/ive-lost-someone/resources-loss-survivors/books-loss-survivors/
Online Resources
World Health Organization Suicide Data: http://www.who.int/mental_health/prevention/suicide/suicideprevent/en/
U.S.A Suicide: Official Final Data (2017): https://suicidology.org/facts-and-statistics/
Responding to Grief, Trauma, and Distress After Suicide: U.S. National Guidelines. Survivors of Suicide Loss Task Force (2015) https://theactionalliance.org/resource/responding-grief-trauma-and-distress-after-suicide-us- national-guidelines
American Association of Suicidology Clinician Survivor’s Task Force. http://cliniciansurvivor.org (provides consultation, support, and education to psychotherapists and other mental health professionals after the suicide death of a patient/client and/or family members).
Children, Teens, and Suicide Loss ~ American Foundation for Suicide Prevention https://afsp.org/find-support/ive-lost-someone/resources-loss-survivors/children-teens-suicide-loss/
After a Suicide: AToolkit for Schools https://afsp.org/our-work/education/after-a-suicide-a-toolkit-for-schools/ The Words To Say It: When a Parent Dies by Suicide, Nancy Rappoport, MD (author of In Her Wake: A Child Psychiatrist Explores the Mystery of her Mother’s Suicide)
Supporting Children and Teens after a Suicide Death, The Dougy Center
https://www.dougy.org/docs/TDC_Supporting_Children Teens_After_a_Suicide_Death_2018.pdf
Films, Podcasts, Interviews
The Journey (AFSP) http://www.survivorday.org/survivor-day-documentaries/
Red Chocolate Elephants, Diana Sands, Australia
Watch Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aWyxQMPeBaQ Understanding Suicide Loss, Supporting Children, The Dougy Center DVD Watch trailer: https://vimeo.com/ondemand/understandingsuicide
Left Behind, Kerry Payne Photography, kerrypayne.net (winner of 2014 International Photography Award) “Left Behind” probes the complicated grief facing those left behind when somebody they love dies by suicide. Evelyn (2019) Documentary film released on Netflix on World Suicide Prevention Day (family walking across Scotland to process (after 13 years) the loss of brother to suicide.
Life after Suicide, Podcast with Jennifer Ashton (series of 48 minute interviews re: suicide loss https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/life-after-suicide/id1460022071)
Grieving a Suicide Death. What’s Your Grief? https://whatsyourgrief.com/grieving-suicide-death/
Interview with Thomas Joiner, Ph. D (father died of suicide; author of Why People Die By Suicide (2006) and Myths about Suicide (2011). https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=126365907?storyId=126365907 Interview with Julie Cerel, Ph.D (past president of American Association of Suicidology) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tzSAPBswDXw
Is Suicide a Choice, Kim Ruocco, MSW https://www.taps.org/articles/21-1/suicide
“Shame Festers in Dark Places”: Keeping Suicide Secret, Stacy Freedenthal Ph.D, LCSW https://www.speakingofsuicide.com/2013/06/30/keeping-suicide-secret/
Postvention as Prevention, Ken Norton, LICSW https://www.sprc.org/news/postvention-prevention
Websites
American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (individual and group support) https://afsp.org/ive-lost-someone American Association for Suicidology http://www.suicidology.org/suicide-survivors/suicide-loss-survivors
For Clinicians and Mental Health Professionals http://cliniciansurvivor.org Alliance for Hope for Suicide Loss Survivors https://allianceofhope.org
LOSS Team: Postvention Workshops and Training http://www.lossteam.com/ LOSS (Loving Outreach to Survivors of Suicide). www.catholiccharities.net/loss
National Child Traumatic Stress Network http://www.nctsn.org/trauma-types/traumatic-grief/parents-caregivers National Alliance for Grieving Children www.nationalallianceforgrievingchildren.org
National Alliance on Mental Illness https://nami.org/; https://www.namimaine.org/ The Center for Grieving Children https://www.cgcmaine.org/
The Dougy Center https://www.dougy.org/
Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors of Suicide Loss https://www.taps.org/suicide SAVE: Suicide Awareness, Voices of Education: https://save.org/what-we-do/grief-support/
Speaking of Suicide https://www.speakingofsuicide.com/category/survivors/suicide-loss-survivors/ Suicide Prevention Resource Center https://www.sprc.org/
Uniting for Suicide Postvention https://www.mirecc.va.gov/visn19/postvention/
Information and podcasts: https://www.mirecc.va.gov/visn19/postvention/community/content.asp#top Violent Loss Bereavement Society www.vlbs.org
