For Survivors of Suicide Loss
You are a “survivor of suicide." You have been through a traumatic experience of losing a loved one to suicide. This will be something that will stay with you forever. Suicide can be very different than losing a family member in a different way other than to suicide. There are feelings and emotions that can be unique to losing someone to suicide:
Guilt – You may feel as if you could have stopped the suicide.
Stigma – Society still attaches a stigma to suicide.
Anger – You may feel anger towards the person you lost, as they are also the murderer of the person you loved.
Disconnection – You may feel disconnected from the person you lost and their memories because they made a choice to end their life.
The American Association of Suicidology has a handbook for Survivors of Suicide: Download it here. You can find out: how to explain suicide to children, the stages of grief, about battling guilt, acceptance, moving on, ways to get support and more.
Also, you can read stories from people like you, who have survived suicide: THEIR STORIES HERE. (Posted by the Survivors of Suicide Loss Group.)
(someone who has lost a loved one to suicide)
Ashley lost a close friend to suicide. You can hear her tell Dawson about her loss here.