Suicide Grief: News & Comment

There are a number interactive online support communities for people bereaved by suicide that merit attention as potentially helpful resources. The examples, below, of several communities that are relatively well established and frequently used will hopefully serve as a starting place for survivors of suicide loss who are interested in exploring whether online assistance is right for them:

• Alliance of Hope, a discussion forum
• Compassionate Friends Chat Room, an online chat (for parents who have lost a child, see the meeting calendar for the "Survivors of Suicide" chat schedule)
• Legacy Connect's "Suicide's Survivors," a discussion forum
• Parents of Suicides - Friends & Families of Suicides (POS-FFOS), two email listservs

Grief is the normal human reaction to loss (grief is not a mental illness), yet helping people who have experienced a traumatic loss -- such as occurs when someone dies by suicide -- can be informed by the principles that guide mental health practice. One excellent example is the booklet "Practice Guidelines: Core Elements for Responding to Mental Health Crises," which focuses on "individuals with serious mental or emotional problems" and also outlines ...

... values, principles and strategies ... applicable to all individuals with mental healthcare needs, across populations and service settings.

A new website, A Child in Grief (achildingrief.com), has been launched as a resource to help people who wish to support bereaved children.

“Through our research and support of childhood bereavement programs, we saw an urgent need for this site. Many adults don’t know where to turn to help children on their grief journey, and we hope they will use this Web site to become educated or get connected to the additional resources they need,” said Chris Park, president, New York Life Foundation [the publisher of the website).

The Childhood Wellbeing Research Centre has published an up-to-date literature review that "provides a brief overview of educational and psychological outcomes for children and young people bereaved of a parent or sibling, and the effectiveness of services provided for this group."

One of the main conclusions of the review "is the importance of a differentiated response to childhood bereavement, taking account of each child's needs and circumstances."

A common message from the research is that effective approaches to supporting bereaved children need to be appropriate to their circumstances, including age and stage of development as well as degree of distress and the presence of protective factors in their environment.

In a book review in the Fall 2011 issue of AAS's "Surviving Suicide" newsletter, editor Ginny Sparrow says the recently published Seeking Hope: Stories of the Suicide Bereaved "is like a support group in your very own home."

Edited by two dedicated women in the suicide prevention field, both Michelle Linn-Gust, Ph.D. and Julie Cerel, Ph.D. share their personal stories through loss by suicide, and recruited 15 other voices to share their journey. All stories possess the gift of time, and it’s encouraging for a newly bereaved reader to have a peek onto the “other side” of sudden loss.