Support For Those Who Lost Someone To Suicide

We’ve talked about suicide and suicide prevention a lot. Whether it is our Church Suicide Prevention Policy you can get for free or all of the national resources you may want to share in your next sermon or podcast or needing to understand the always controversial conversation of suicide being a sin, this is a topic that is talked about maybe more than any other on this blog. And with September being Suicide Awareness Month, we want to bring it up again.

But this time, we want to talk about a different aspect, support for those who have lost someone to suicide. Here are some statistics from the resource I’m about to share:

• Every 40 seconds, someone dies by suicide, leaving 6-8 loved ones grieving devastating loss.
• Approximately 45 million people have been greatly distressed by suicide, in the U.S. alone. Many grapple with horrific, stigmatized loss, debilitating emotions, and complex personal challenges.
• Adult loss survivors are nearly 10 times more likely to consider suicide themselves in the initial months following loss. 
• Suicide loss survivors are 64% more likely to attempt suicide, and 80% more likely to quit their jobs or drop out of school – compared to those who have suffered sudden loss to a natural cause.

Alliance of Hope is a resource for people who have lost someone they care about to suicide, whether a parent, spouse, child, friend, coworker, or neighbor, we know this population needs support. I love their motto “‘suicide postvention’ is suicide prevention.” Here is a quick video of what this means:

Alliance of Hope has an online forum, their solution to finding likeminded people the same way Celebrate Recovery or AA helps those with a substance use addiction. They also have a huge list of books to go through and while not all of them are religious, they will help. And for those who have been able to grieve, they even have an area where you can help volunteer yourself to support others who are in the midst of it or to help bring awareness to your community or church. They also have a hope after suicide brochure you may want to look at getting.