Offering hope, comfort and support for survivors of suicide loss.
Since losing my dad, I seem to pay more attention to suicide in the news. Unfortunately, there has been much too steady of a pace of celebrity or high-profile suicides in the news lately and it has left me feeling “fatigued.” Are they happening more frequently, or is this the new media fixation of the moment? Upon waking up this morning, I did my usual scroll through Facebook and saw reports that Cleveland kidnapper Ariel Castro had taken his ...
This past week, I enjoyed a vacation in Florida with my husband and some friends. While passing the time during an airport layover, I perused a few store bookshelves (as I often do) to see if something might pique my interest. I couldn’t help but notice – especially in the South – the pervasiveness of self-help books. One called “52 Things Daughters Need from Their Dads” jumped out. This is because my dad was a self-help book junkie and likely ...
I wanted to share the opening letter from the August LOSS (Loving Outreach to Survivors of Suicide) support group newsletter. It hit home with me as I know it was difficult for me to see other people around me move on pretty fast after my Dad died. I thought others might be able to benefit from this reflection about moving on after losing a loved one to suicide. I remember how upset I'd be when people would say, weeks and months after my Dad's ...
This weekend marks two years since my dad took his life. Once again, I find myself saying, “I can’t believe how quickly the time has passed.” And, like most, I still have trouble believing that I am actually a survivor of suicide, living in continued disbelief that my dad made this decision. Like Lindsay just wrote, it’s been a week of bittersweet celebration for us. After a year on the market, my mom was able to sell our family home, opting to ...
In July at the Loving Outreach to Survivors of Suicide (LOSS) Young Adult meeting, I met a wonderful women named Kathleen who recently lost her sister to suicide. As Becky and I were discussing the recent launch of this blog with the rest of the group members, Kathleen asked if she could tell her story:
"My survivor story started on Saturday, May 18, 2013, when my sister succumbed to her life-long battle with bipolar disorder and suicide. I ...
