When a loved one dies by suicide, waves of emotion can leave us overwhelmed.
Suicide may fill us with more questions than answers as it paves a path of complicated grief; a path that is rocky and difficult to traverse. If you have experienced the death of a loved one due to suicide you have our compassion. Below are resources created by caring people who understand the loss by suicide of a loved one. We hope that you find support for your grief journey here.
Web Resources:
General Grief Support:
Canadian Virtual Hospice
http://www.mygrief.ca/
What’s Your Grief
https://whatsyourgrief.com/
Center For Loss & Life Transition
https://www.centerforloss.com/grief/
Heal Grief
https://healgrief.org/grieving-the-death-of-a-spouse/
PsychCentral - The Ball in the Box
https://psychcentral.com/blog/coping-with-grief-the-ball-the-box#1
Wise Old Sayings
http://www.wiseoldsayings.com/grieving-support-guide/
Suicide Grief Support:
Stand by Support After Suicide
http://standbysupport.com.au/
Canadian Association For Suicide Prevention
https://suicideprevention.ca/coping-with-suicide-loss/suicide-grief/
Support After Suicide
http://www.supportaftersuicide.org.au/understanding-suicide-and-grief/suicide-and-grief
Living with Suicide
www.pbs.org/weblab/living
Surviving Suicide
http://survivingsuicide.com
The Link’s National Resource Center for Suicide Prevention and Aftercare
www.thelink.org
Friends for Survival, Inc.
friendsforsurvival.org
Suicide Prevention Resource Centre
www.sprc.org
Suicide Information and Education Resource Centre
www.siec.ca
Web Resources:
General Grief Support:
Canadian Virtual Hospice
http://www.mygrief.ca/
What’s Your Grief
https://whatsyourgrief.com/
Center For Loss & Life Transition
https://www.centerforloss.com/grief/
Heal Grief
https://healgrief.org/grieving-the-death-of-a-spouse/
PsychCentral - The Ball in the Box
https://psychcentral.com/blog/coping-with-grief-the-ball-the-box#1
Wise Old Sayings
http://www.wiseoldsayings.com/grieving-support-guide/
Suicide Grief Support:
Stand by Support After Suicide
http://standbysupport.com.au/
Canadian Association For Suicide Prevention
https://suicideprevention.ca/coping-with-suicide-loss/suicide-grief/
Support After Suicide
http://www.supportaftersuicide.org.au/understanding-suicide-and-grief/suicide-and-grief
Living with Suicide
www.pbs.org/weblab/living
Surviving Suicide
http://survivingsuicide.com
The Link’s National Resource Center for Suicide Prevention and Aftercare
www.thelink.org
Friends for Survival, Inc.
friendsforsurvival.org
Suicide Prevention Resource Centre
www.sprc.org
Suicide Information and Education Resource Centre
www.siec.ca
Articles
Grief After Suicide, by Victoria Hospice
http://www.victoriahospice.org/sites/default/files/imce/VicHospSuicide.pdf
The Continuum of “Survivorship”: Definitional Issues in the Aftermath of Suicide by Cerel, McIntosh, Neimeyer, Maple, and Marshall, in “Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior” journal
http://nebula.wsimg.com/836d07e72199ac602ce445c3a1ee5c5a?AccessKeyId=C005B8E40871028AF00A&disposition=0&alloworigin=1
http://www.victoriahospice.org/sites/default/files/imce/VicHospSuicide.pdf
The Continuum of “Survivorship”: Definitional Issues in the Aftermath of Suicide by Cerel, McIntosh, Neimeyer, Maple, and Marshall, in “Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior” journal
http://nebula.wsimg.com/836d07e72199ac602ce445c3a1ee5c5a?AccessKeyId=C005B8E40871028AF00A&disposition=0&alloworigin=1
Books
After Suicide by John H. Hewett (Westminster Press, 1980)
After Suicide: A Ray of Hope by Eleanora ‘Betsy’ Ross (Lynn Publications, 1986)
Andrew, You Died Too Soon by Corinne Chilstrom (Augsburg Fortress, 1993)
Breaking The Silence by Mariette Hartley (Signet/Penguin Books, 1990)
But I Didn’t Say Goodbye: For Parents and Professionals Helping Child Suicide Survivors by Barbara Rubel
(Griefwork Center, Inc., 2000)
Dead Reckoning by David C. Treadway (HarperCollins Publishers, 1997)
Don’t Take My Grief Away From Me by Doug Manning (In-Sight Books, 1979)
Finding Your Way after the Suicide of Someone You Love by David Beibel & Suzanne Foster
(Zondervan, 2005)
Forgive & Forget: Healing The Hurts We Don’t Deserve by Lewis B. Smedes (Pocket Books, 1984)
God’s Comfort Food for New Beginnings by Kimberly Converse (ElimBooks, 1999)
Handling the Holidays by Bruce H. Conley (Thum Printing, 1992)
Healing After The Suicide of a Loved One by Ann Smolin and John Guinan (Simon & Schuster, 1993)
Helping Children Cope with Loss by Buz and Joanie Overbeck (TLC Group, 1992)
Helping Children Cope With Grief by Alan Wolfelt (Accelerated Development, Inc., 1983)
Hope for Bereaved: Understanding, Coping, and Growing Through Grief by Therese Schoeneck (Hope for
Bereaved, Inc., 2001)
How To Go On Living When Someone You Love Dies by Therese A. Rando (Bantam Books, 1991)
How to Survive the Loss of a Love by Melba Colgrove, Harold Bloomfield & Peter McWilliams (Prelude
Press, 1991)
Living Through Personal Crisis by Ann Kaiser Sterns (Thomas Moore, 1985)
Mourning After Suicide by Lois Bloom (The Pilgrim Press, 1987)
My Son, My Son by Iris Bolton with Curtis Mitchell (Bolton Press, 1983)
Night Falls Fast: Understanding Suicide by Kay Redfield Jamison (Knopf, 1999)
No Time To Say Goodbye by Carla Fine (Doubleday, 1997)
Remembering Garrett: One Family’s Battle with a Child’s Depression by Gordon Smith (Carroll & Graf
Publishers, 2006)
Roses in December by Marilyn Willett Heavelin (Thomas Nelson, 1993)
Seven Choices by Elizabeth Harper Neeld (Delta, 1990)
Someone I Loved Died by Suicide: A Story for Child Survivors and Those Who Care For Them
by Doreen Cammarata (Grief Guidance, Inc., 2001)
Stronger Than Death by Sue Chance (Avon Books, 1992)
Suicide: Prevention, Intervention, Postvention by Earl Grollman (Beacon Press, 1988)
Suicide: Survivors by Adina Wrobleski (Afterwords, 5124 Grove St., Minneapolis, MN 55436, 1994)
Surviving Suicide: Help to Heal Your Heart — Life Stories From Those Left Behind by Heather Hays (Brown
Books Publishing Group, 2005)
Survivors of Suicide by Rita Robinson (Newcastle Publishing Co., 1989)
The Bereaved Parent by Harriet Sarnoff Schiff (Penguin Books, 1977)
The Courage to Grieve by Judy Tatelbaum (Harper & Row, 1980)
The Grief Recovery Handbook (Revised Edition) by John James & Russell Friedman (HarperCollins, 1998)
Touched by Suicide by Michael F. Myers and Carla Fine (Gotham Books, 2006)
Transcending Loss by Ashley Davis Prend (Benline Press, 1995)
Understanding Grief: Helping Yourself Heal by Alan D. Wolfelt (Accelerated Development Inc., 1992)
Why Suicide? by Eric Marcus (HarperCollins, 1996)
Why People Die by Suicide by Thomas Joiner (Harvard University Press, 2005)
Will’s Choice : A Suicidal Teen, A Desperate Mother, and a Chronicle of Recovery by Gail Griffith
(Harper Collins, 2006)
After Suicide: A Ray of Hope by Eleanora ‘Betsy’ Ross (Lynn Publications, 1986)
Andrew, You Died Too Soon by Corinne Chilstrom (Augsburg Fortress, 1993)
Breaking The Silence by Mariette Hartley (Signet/Penguin Books, 1990)
But I Didn’t Say Goodbye: For Parents and Professionals Helping Child Suicide Survivors by Barbara Rubel
(Griefwork Center, Inc., 2000)
Dead Reckoning by David C. Treadway (HarperCollins Publishers, 1997)
Don’t Take My Grief Away From Me by Doug Manning (In-Sight Books, 1979)
Finding Your Way after the Suicide of Someone You Love by David Beibel & Suzanne Foster
(Zondervan, 2005)
Forgive & Forget: Healing The Hurts We Don’t Deserve by Lewis B. Smedes (Pocket Books, 1984)
God’s Comfort Food for New Beginnings by Kimberly Converse (ElimBooks, 1999)
Handling the Holidays by Bruce H. Conley (Thum Printing, 1992)
Healing After The Suicide of a Loved One by Ann Smolin and John Guinan (Simon & Schuster, 1993)
Helping Children Cope with Loss by Buz and Joanie Overbeck (TLC Group, 1992)
Helping Children Cope With Grief by Alan Wolfelt (Accelerated Development, Inc., 1983)
Hope for Bereaved: Understanding, Coping, and Growing Through Grief by Therese Schoeneck (Hope for
Bereaved, Inc., 2001)
How To Go On Living When Someone You Love Dies by Therese A. Rando (Bantam Books, 1991)
How to Survive the Loss of a Love by Melba Colgrove, Harold Bloomfield & Peter McWilliams (Prelude
Press, 1991)
Living Through Personal Crisis by Ann Kaiser Sterns (Thomas Moore, 1985)
Mourning After Suicide by Lois Bloom (The Pilgrim Press, 1987)
My Son, My Son by Iris Bolton with Curtis Mitchell (Bolton Press, 1983)
Night Falls Fast: Understanding Suicide by Kay Redfield Jamison (Knopf, 1999)
No Time To Say Goodbye by Carla Fine (Doubleday, 1997)
Remembering Garrett: One Family’s Battle with a Child’s Depression by Gordon Smith (Carroll & Graf
Publishers, 2006)
Roses in December by Marilyn Willett Heavelin (Thomas Nelson, 1993)
Seven Choices by Elizabeth Harper Neeld (Delta, 1990)
Someone I Loved Died by Suicide: A Story for Child Survivors and Those Who Care For Them
by Doreen Cammarata (Grief Guidance, Inc., 2001)
Stronger Than Death by Sue Chance (Avon Books, 1992)
Suicide: Prevention, Intervention, Postvention by Earl Grollman (Beacon Press, 1988)
Suicide: Survivors by Adina Wrobleski (Afterwords, 5124 Grove St., Minneapolis, MN 55436, 1994)
Surviving Suicide: Help to Heal Your Heart — Life Stories From Those Left Behind by Heather Hays (Brown
Books Publishing Group, 2005)
Survivors of Suicide by Rita Robinson (Newcastle Publishing Co., 1989)
The Bereaved Parent by Harriet Sarnoff Schiff (Penguin Books, 1977)
The Courage to Grieve by Judy Tatelbaum (Harper & Row, 1980)
The Grief Recovery Handbook (Revised Edition) by John James & Russell Friedman (HarperCollins, 1998)
Touched by Suicide by Michael F. Myers and Carla Fine (Gotham Books, 2006)
Transcending Loss by Ashley Davis Prend (Benline Press, 1995)
Understanding Grief: Helping Yourself Heal by Alan D. Wolfelt (Accelerated Development Inc., 1992)
Why Suicide? by Eric Marcus (HarperCollins, 1996)
Why People Die by Suicide by Thomas Joiner (Harvard University Press, 2005)
Will’s Choice : A Suicidal Teen, A Desperate Mother, and a Chronicle of Recovery by Gail Griffith
(Harper Collins, 2006)
Videos
The bridge between suicide and life | Kevin Briggs
For many years Sergeant Kevin Briggs had a dark, unusual, at times strangely rewarding job: He patrolled the southern end of San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge, a popular site for suicide attempts. In a sobering, deeply personal talk Briggs shares stories from those he's spoken — and listened — to standing on the edge of life. He gives a powerful piece of advice to those with loved ones who might be contemplating suicide.
You’re still here -- Living after suicide | Amy Biancolli | TEDxAlbany
Amy Biancolli, who lost both her husband and her sister to suicide, talks about surviving those blows and figuring out how to move on. Loss forces the living to reinvent themselves, to re-tool family dynamics and to find meaning in life and laughter with the loved ones who remain. The grief has a mind of its own, frequently ignoring the tidy “stages” we expect of it. But so do moments of levity, which come and go at will. Biancolli tells some of her own story, including her decision to write about a personal subject so often hushed in public. Amy Biancolli is the author of Figuring Shit Out: Love, Laughter, Suicide, and Survival (Behler Publications), a memoir of life after the death of her husband, writer Christopher D. Ringwald. Currently an arts reporter and columnist for the Albany Times Union, she previously served as film critic for the Houston Chronicle. Amy is also the author of Fritz Kreisler: Love’s Sorrow, Love’s Joy (1998 Amadeus Press) and House of Holy Fools: A Family Portrait in Six Cracked Parts (2004 Lulu Press), which earned her Albany Author of the Year. She has three children, lives in Albany and blogs at figuringshitout.net.