Why Suicides Spike in Spring and Summer
Why do suicides spike in spring and summer instead of winter? Drawing from lived loss and suicide research, this essay explores seasonal suicide risk, myths, and biological factors—while walking with parents grieving a child’s suicide and readers seeking understanding with compassion.
Key Takeaways
- Suicides tend to spike in spring and summer, influenced by unpredictable weather and personal trauma.
- The author shares a personal loss, describing the emotional turmoil following their son’s suicide during a stormy summer.
- Winter can feel heavy and numb, contrasting with the chaotic emotions that spring and summer evoke.
- Reconstructing a self after such loss takes time, and the author navigates seasons while seeking peace and connection.
- The piece “Why Suicides Spike in Spring and Summer” reflects on the challenges of reconciling summer, the season that took the author’s son, and the ongoing struggle with grief.
Summary
“Why Suicides Spike in Spring and Summer” reflects on the challenges of reconciling summer, the season that took the author’s son, and the ongoing struggle with grief. As days grow longer and nature bursts into vibrant life, the contrast between the external beauty of summer and the internal despair experienced by those in mourning becomes painfully stark. The warmth and brightness that typically signify joy and renewal often serve as a reminder of lost loved ones, intensifying feelings of isolation and sorrow.
The author delves into personal memories that intertwine with the season, illustrating how each blooming flower and sunny afternoon can evoke bittersweet recollections, pushing the individual further into their grief. Amidst the societal expectations to celebrate and enjoy the summer, many find themselves battling an invisible weight, one that complicates their ability to participate in the very joys that surround them, ultimately leading to a critical reflection on mental health and the importance of understanding and compassion during these emotionally charged times.
”Suicides often rise in spring because energy and agitation can return before hope does. Longer days, shifting routines, and biological stressors—like allergy‑related inflammation and disrupted sleep—can intensify depression. The contrast between a “bright” world and internal pain can deepen isolation, increasing risk.
My Forever Son
My Forever Son explores the profound grief, hope, and healing that follow the tragedy of losing a child to suicide.
My Forever Son dovetails the author’s journey of descending into deep grief, searching for hope, and finding healing along the way.
Table of Contents
Why Suicides Spike in Spring and Summer
My Forever Son
When the World Wakes and I Do Not
Spring arrives with insistence.
Longer days. Blooming flowers. The demand to come alive again.
For many, it is a season of relief. For others—especially those living with depression—it is something else entirely. And for me, summer will always carry the weight of loss.
I lost my son, Dylan, to suicide on June 25, 2012. A Monday. 1:52 a.m. Barely into summer. The day of his funeral, a violent derecho tore through central Ohio—triple‑digit heat collapsing into screaming winds and sudden darkness. Nature itself seemed to rupture.
For years I believed summer was only personal grief. But research tells a more complicated, unsettling truth.
Suicide does not peak in winter.
It rises in spring and summer.
The Myth We Hold—and the Data We Avoid
There is a persistent belief that suicide is most common during the winter holidays—November through January. Thanksgiving. Christmas. New Year’s. Loneliness framed by lights.
But this is a myth.
What Research Shows About Springtime Suicide Spikes
Epidemiological research across countries and decades shows that suicide rates reliably increase in spring and early summer, with the lowest rates in winter. April through June are consistently the highest‑risk months.
This contradiction—bright days paired with rising suicide risk—forces us to ask harder questions.
If you’re seeking a clear, compassionate breakdown of suicide data, this post offers context and clarity:
👉 2023 Suicide Statistics: A Deep Dive Into the Crisis
Why Suicide Rates Increase in Spring and Summer
Why Spring Can Be Dangerous
Psychiatrists and public‑health researchers describe several overlapping factors:
- Energy returns before hope does.
People who have struggled through winter depression may experience increased motivation in spring—without relief from despair. - The contrast effect.
When the world appears joyful and renewed, those who still feel broken can experience intensified isolation and shame. - Biological factors.
Inflammation related to seasonal allergies, autoimmune conditions, and disrupted circadian rhythms has been linked to worsening depression.
The Role of Inflammation, Allergies, and Mental Health
Spring does not cure depression.
Sometimes it activates it.
For deeper understanding of why suicide is not a choice—and why blame is misplaced—these pieces may help readers and supporters alike:
Summer: The Season That Took My Son
Summer still arrests my breath.
Others speak of vacations, cookouts, light.
I practice avoidance. I dread its arrival. I hate summer.
Summer took my son.
Grief does not follow meteorological seasons, yet the body remembers. Each June carries the echo of storms—unpredictable, sudden, violent. A derecho out of nowhere. A life gone.
That storm taught me something useful, if unbearable:
Suicide is often sudden, rupturing, and unseen until it is already upon us.
The Seasonal Suicide Myth: Why Winter Isn’t the Highest Risk
The Heaviness of Winter—and Why It Can Feel Safer
Winter, for all its numbness, can feel survivable.
There is a stillness. A permission to withdraw. Depression in winter often looks like dormancy. No sap running. No expectation to bloom.
Spring demands otherwise.
Biology, Depression, and the Return of Energy Without Hope
Dylan attempted suicide five times between January and May. Each attempt survived, each spring closer to the end. By summer, the energy exceeded the restraint.
This pattern is not rare.
Myths That Keep Us Unsafe
Common Myths About Suicide That Harm the Bereaved
False ideas about suicide do real harm. They delay vigilance, skew prevention efforts, and deepen stigma for families left behind.
Understanding Suicide Beyond Blame and Misconception
For readers wanting clarity, these posts directly address common misconceptions:
- 👉 Is Suicide Really a Choice? Breaking the Stigma
- 👉 Breaking the Stigma: Facts About Suicide and Compassion
Understanding suicide does not increase risk.
Silence does.
Reconstructing a Self—One Season at a Time
I died in summer 2012.
What followed has been reconstruction.
Not redemption. Not closure. Just learning how to live across seasons without my son.
Living Through the Seasons After Losing a Child to Suicide
Rebuilding a Life After Suicide Loss—One Season at a Time
Winter taught me how to endure. Spring taught me vigilance. Summer taught me humility before forces I cannot control.
I live right here, right now—in whatever season it is. Tonight it is cold. I am going to meet a friend for tea. Small continuations matter.
For Those Who Are Grieving—and Those Who Want to Help
If you are a parent walking this road, you are not alone.
If you are trying to understand how to support those bereaved by suicide loss, your willingness to learn matters more than perfect words.
Why Parents Who Lose a Child to Suicide Struggle in Summer
You may also find these pieces grounding:
- 👉 Understanding the Unique Aspects of Suicide Grief
- 👉 Finding Immediate Support Resources for Suicide Loss Survivors
Summer and Suicide Loss: When Grief Collides With Sunshine
I believe that those who may have spent the winter depressed find themselves, in the spring, still depressed, but with the energy and motivation to take their own life.
I also think spring is particularly tough for people who are depressed because after a largely solitary winter, those people emerge into a world full of rebirth, rejuvenation and revelry. In contrast, they feel dark and sad.
Adam Kaplin, Johns Hopkins psychiatrist, Suicide Rates Spike in Spring
What Research Shows About Springtime Suicide Spikes
Spring and summer do not cause suicide.
But they can create dangerous intersections of biology, psychology, and expectation.
If we are willing to look honestly—past myth, past comfort—we may learn when to lean in harder.
For Dylan.
For those still here.
For Readers & Supporters
If you’re here because you’ve lost a child to suicide—or because you love someone who has—understanding why suicide happens can soften blame, shame, and isolation.
What the research tells us:
- Suicide rates are lowest in winter and highest in spring and early summer.
- Increased daylight and energy can arrive before relief from depression, creating risk.
- Environmental and biological factors—including inflammation and allergies—can worsen mood disorders.
- Suicide is not a character flaw, moral failure, or choice made freely.
If you want clear, compassionate context, these posts may help:
- 2023 Suicide Statistics: A Deep Dive Into the Crisis
- Is Suicide Really a Choice? Breaking the Stigma
- Understanding Suicide: It’s Not a Choice
- Understanding the Unique Aspects of Suicide Grief
If you are supporting a suicide‑loss parent:
- You cannot fix this—but you can stay.
- Say their child’s name.
- Remember anniversaries and seasons.
- Let grief be nonlinear and lifelong.
Frequently Asked Questions
Suicide rates are consistently highest in spring and early summer, not winter. Research suggests that after a long winter of depression, people may experience a return of physical energy before their emotional suffering eases—creating a dangerous window of risk.
For a deeper look at the data, see:
👉 2023 Suicide Statistics: A Deep Dive Into the Crisis
No. Suicide is not a freely made choice—it is most often the result of intense psychological pain combined with biological and environmental stressors that overwhelm coping capacity. Understanding this helps reduce blame and stigma for families left behind.
Learn more here:
👉 Is Suicide Really a Choice? Breaking the Stigma
👉 Understanding Suicide: It’s Not a Choice
Seasons associated with joy and renewal can amplify grief after suicide loss. Parents may feel isolated as the world celebrates while their child is missing, and anniversaries often cluster in warmer months. This mismatch between internal pain and external expectation can be deeply destabilizing.
Related reading:
👉 Understanding the Unique Aspects of Suicide Grief
Common myths—such as “suicide happens most at the holidays” or “love should have been enough”—misdirect prevention efforts and deepen guilt for parents. Replacing myth with understanding saves lives and supports the bereaved.
Explore more here:
👉 Breaking the Stigma: Facts About Suicide and Compassion
You cannot fix suicide loss—but you can stay. Speak the child’s name, remember significant dates, and allow grief to unfold without deadlines. Presence is more important than explanations.
Helpful context:
👉 Understanding Suicide: Why the Pain Matters
Related Reads
Beth Brown, Author
About the Author
Beth Brown is a writer, educator, and bereaved mother who shares her journey of healing after losing her only son, Dylan, to suicide. Through poetry, essays, and her blog My Forever Son, Beth offers comfort and hope to others navigating grief, honoring the enduring bond between parent and child and celebrating the small joys that illuminate the path toward healing.
Meet the Author: Writing Through the Abyss
by Beth Brown
There are places that cannot be mapped, only entered—terrains of loss where language falters and the heart, stripped of its certainties, must learn to speak again. I am Beth Brown, a mother whose son, Dylan, died by suicide at twenty. My life, once measured by the ordinary rhythms of teaching literature and nurturing a child, was pierced in two: before and after. In the aftermath, I found myself wandering a wilderness where time bent, memory ached, and the world’s colors dimmed to the hush of grief.
On baby’s breath and angel wings,
You bring me love yet still,
— “On Baby’s Breath and Angel Wings”
I did not choose to become a chronicler of sorrow, but grief, relentless and unbidden, pressed its ink into my hands. I wrote because I could not bear the silence. I wrote because the ache demanded witness. In poetry, I found a way to hold both the weight of absence and the persistence of love—a language for the unspeakable, a vessel for memory, a place where my son’s name could still be spoken.
He left too soon,
Lifting life from June,
Casting torrents of rain.
— “He Left Too Soon”
There are nights when the world tilts, and I am returned to the moment of loss, the fracture that remade me. Yet even in the deepest dark, I have learned to listen for the faint music of hope, the pulse of love that endures beyond death.
Beat still my heart,
Beat still my mind,
Weary though thou art,
Carry his love along with thine,
Though heavy on thy shoulders
Crost fields throughout all time.
— “Beat Still My Heart”
My poems are not answers. They are offerings—fragments of a life lived in the shadow of absence, pieced together with longing and the fierce, unyielding devotion of a mother’s heart. They are the record of a journey through the labyrinth of grief, where each turn reveals both the ache of what is lost and the quiet radiance of what remains.
My child sleeps in a cradle of stars,
Gently rocked by the moon
Lullabies in his heart,
Heavens in galaxies swirl round to the sound
Of a mother and child’s love beating on.
Meteor showers, on the darkest of nights,
Bring comfort and joy to my child’s delight,
Aurora Borealis tints sky blue and green,
Where my child remembers his mother in dreams.
–“Falling Stars in a Moonless Sky”
There are questions that haunt the bereaved: Could I have known? Could I have saved you? The mind circles these unanswerable riddles, but the heart, battered and tender, learns to rest in the mystery.
I’d have reached right in to your dark night’s soul—
I would have held on, I would have clutched you,
I would have never let you go
But you told me “Mom I love you”
Oh my child, if I’d only known.
— “Once Upon a Blue-Sky Moon”
In the landscape of loss, I have discovered that love is not diminished by death. It is transformed—becoming both ache and solace, shadow and light, the filament that binds the living to the lost.
Body, mind, soul, rough and ragged,
Weeping tears falling still throughout time,
Carrying weight of mourning and grieving
Falling broken when thou wert mine.
— “Beat Still My Heart”
I write for those who walk this wilderness with me—for the mothers and fathers, siblings and friends, whose lives have been marked by the unthinkable. My hope is that in these poems, you will find not only the echo of your own sorrow, but also the quiet assurance that you are not alone.
Starlight for a mobile twinkling ‘ere so bright,
To remember his mother that darkest of nights,
When slipped he from her grasp and fell through this earth,
Tumbling still planets, sun, folding time in rebirth.
— “Falling Stars in a Moonless Sky”
That we might understand we cannot separate mental illness from physical illness and that try as we might, we cannot see inside another’s pain.
–“Ode to Suicide: That We Might Understand”
And how my heart keeps on beating
Is a mystery to all,
For without you beside me
Through life’s depth I crawl.
I live now life backwards
My heart beating in time,
To the life that we lived
When you, child, were mine.
Try as I might
I can’t seem to live,
For my dreams all belonged,
To your future forward lived.
If you have come here searching for words to companion your grief, I welcome you. My poetry is not a map, but a lantern—casting light on the path we walk, together and alone, toward a horizon where love, undiminished, endures.
But boughs break and love falls through the cracks in the earth,
And the centre can’t hold when orbits, slung far, break their girth,
Gravitational interference, passing stars in the night,
Jetting orbs, falling stars in a moonless sky.
— “Falling Stars in a Moonless Sky”
Grief is wild—untamed, unending, and full of shadows. Yet within its depths, I have found moments of light: a memory, a poem, the gentle rustle of leaves, the warmth of a cup of tea. My words are both ache and love, a testament that even in the deepest sorrow, we can find meaning, connection, and—sometimes—hope. Through poetry, I reach for my son and for all who walk this path. If you find yourself here, know that you are not alone, and that love—like poetry—endures.
If you wish to read more, my collection, Bury My Heart: 19 Poems for Grief and Healing After Losing a Child to Suicide is available on Amazon Kindle. and many other reflections await you at myforeverson.com.
Bury My Heart
The Story of My Forever Son
What Happened? The Backstory to My Forever Son: A Mother’s Grief
I started this blog, My Forever Son: Healing After Losing a Child to Suicide in 2015, three years into my journey of grief. You can read more about what happened here: The Backstory to My Forever Son: A Mother’s Grief recounts the author’s harrowing experience of losing her son to suicide. Her story highlights her grief, guilt, and the healing power of writing, especially through works like the “If Earth Were Sky (And Sky Above)” poem: reflections on love and loss. The blog “My Forever Son” came about as a way for the author to work through this devastating grief that follows the loss of a child to suicide. My Forever Son blog serves as a platform for sharing experiences and finding healing and solace in community.
Find Hope Here: Poetic Reflections on Grief and Healing
Find Hope Here: Poetic Reflections on Grief and Healing offers a heartfelt collection of poems that deeply resonate with the profound sorrow of parents who have experienced the unimaginable pain of losing a child to suicide. These poignant verses navigate the intense emotions of this tragic loss, beautifully capturing the stages of grief while gently guiding readers towards hope and healing on their journey through grief.
The Magnolia Tree: A Symbol of Grief and Resilience
The Magnolia Tree: A Symbol of Grief and Resilience, explores the author’s journey of grief through the metaphor of a Magnolia tree’s cyclical seasons. The author uses photography to illustrate the parallels between nature’s cycles and the seasons of grief, finding hope and healing in writing, gardening, and nature’s resilience. The Magnolia tree’s resilience symbolizes renewal and the possibility of finding joy again despite profound heartbreak. After reflections on nature’s resilience, the author reflects on grief and healing (echoes of joy and shadows of loss) after losing her son to suicide.
Understanding the Unique Aspects of Suicide Grief
Understanding the Unique Aspects of Suicide Grief compassionately delves into the profound challenges of navigating the grief that follows a suicide. The author, who has experienced the heart-wrenching loss of her son, shares her deeply moving personal journey, offering comfort and understanding to those who find themselves in similar anguish. This heartfelt post not only shares her story but also provides a thoughtful collection of articles and professional resources, aimed at helping parents cope with the unimaginable pain of losing a child to suicide.
Navigating Guilt in Grief: A Parent’s Guide
Navigating Guilt in Grief: A Parent’s Guide offers a gentle and understanding perspective on the complex emotions that emerge after the devastating loss of a loved one through suicide, particularly from the vantage point of parents.This guide thoughtfully addresses the overwhelming and often contradictory feelings of grief, guilt, and sorrow that can envelop parents navigating such profound heartache.
Healing After Losing a Child to Suicide: A Guide for Parents
Healing After Losing a Child to Suicide: A Guide for Parents gently supports parents navigating the profound sorrow of losing a child to suicide. This heartfelt article acknowledges the intense grief that such a tragedy brings and offers compassionate guidance on finding a way forward. The healing strategies shared emphasize self-care and the importance of seeking professional help, while inviting parents to connect with others who understand their pain.
Carrying Ache and Love: Healing Longterm Grief in Suicide Loss
I have shared my grief journey on this blog, My Forever Son, reflecting on those painful early years and sharing glimmers of hope along the way. Through sleepless nights and tears, I found that my deep love for my son sustains me through his absence.
Carrying both ache and love after losing my son to suicide has been the crux of my grief journey these past 12 years. I share insights into healing from deep grief in the article, Carrying Ache and Love: Healing Longterm Grief in Suicide Loss, where ache for his absence and love for my son walk together in my heart. Holding hands, one is never without the other, but ache and love have carried me—and carry me still.
When Love Isn’t Enough: “Ode to Suicide: That We Might Understand”
When Love Isn’t Enough: “Ode to Suicide: That We Might Understand,” explores the difficult topic of suicide through the touching treatise, “Ode to Suicide: That We Might Understand,” which challenges the idea that it is just a choice. This meaningful work discusses the certainty of death, no matter the cause, and the limits of love in preventing such loss. Beth Brown, who wrote both the treatise and this article, shares her personal journey of grief after losing her son to suicide, finding comfort in writing and nature photography.
Meet Dylan, My Forever Son
Twenty Years of Love: Dylan
Twenty Years of Love: Dylan offers a poignant exploration of grief and loss, blending together cherished memories and reflections on Dylan’s life. The emotional resonance of this piece is deeply felt, beautifully portraying both the love and sorrow that the author carries in their heart. The thoughtful inclusion of links to further readings about Dylan and resources for support is a compassionate touch that adds immense value to those who may be navigating similar journeys.
Walking Through Shadows: Surviving the Unthinkable Loss of a Child to Suicide
Walking through Shadows: Surviving the Unthinkable Loss of a Child to Suicide offers a deeply moving and heartfelt narrative that illuminates the unimaginable pain of losing a child to suicide. The personal stories shared create a sincere and unfiltered glimpse into the heavy journey of grief and the gradual path toward healing. Through poignant reflections and a poetic exploration on grief, the author navigates the chaotic emotions that accompany such a catastrophic event, revealing both the struggles and the moments of unexpected solace that can emerge even in the darkest times.
I Want It All Back: Remembering Dylan, My Forever Son
I Want It All Back: Remembering Dylan, My Forever Son lovingly encapsulates the profound heartache and cherished memories tied to the author’s beloved son, Dylan. Through heartfelt imagery and poignant personal stories, it invites readers to share in an emotional journey that resonates deeply, fostering a compassionate understanding of loss and love.
I Want to Believe: Searching for Hope After Losing My Son to Suicide
I Want to Believe: Searching for Hope After Losing My Son to Suicide is a heartfelt collection of personal reflections and cherished memories that navigates the profound journey of grief and hope following the heartbreaking loss of a son to suicide. The rawness of the emotions is deeply felt, drawing readers into a shared space of empathy. Through vivid descriptions and nostalgic elements, the work evokes a sense of connection and understanding, while the stunning images inspire hope and healing amidst the sorrow.
Dylan: Forever Loved and Remembered in Our Hearts
Dylan: Forever Loved and Remembered in Our Hearts invites readers into the heart/h-wrenching yet beautifully profound journey of a mother’s grief after the devastating loss of her beloved 20-year-old son, Dylan, who tragically died by suicide. Through a heartfelt collection of original poems and personal reflections, she courageously shares the painful complexities of her sorrow, the small moments of hope that emerged, and her ongoing path toward healing.
Heartfelt Stories and Poems of Love and Loss
“On Baby’s Breath and Angel Wings” Poem: Grieving a Child’s Suicide
“On Baby’s Breath and Angel Wings” Poem: Grieving a Child’s Suicide delves into the deep, heart-wrenching sorrow of losing a child to suicide. This poignant piece not only articulates the immense pain of such a loss but also provides vital resources to navigate the challenging journey of grief. With tender personal reflections and thoughtful coping strategies, the post and poem, “On Baby’s Breath and Angel Wings” serves as a compassionate companion for those who are enduring similar heartaches.
A Grandmother’s Love Held Together the Family Table
A Grandmother’s Love Held Together the Family Table chronicles a family’s journey through the loss of their beloved son, Dylan. This tragedy alters their connections, turning a joyful gathering space into one of reflection. The narrative captures the struggle between despair and acceptance, underscoring love’s enduring power amidst heartache. In honoring Dylan’s memory, they find unexpected joy in their grief, illustrating the resilience of the human spirit in the face of loss.
Grandparents’ Double Grief: Losing a Grandchild to Suicide
Grandparents’ Double Grief: Losing a Grandchild to Suicide gently delves into the profound and heart-wrenching sorrow experienced by grandparents who endure the unimaginable loss of their grandchild. This painful journey envelops them in a dual mourning, as they grieve not only the precious life that is gone but also the shattered dreams and cherished memories that will sorrowfully remain unrealized for their own child, the grieving parent.
Memorial Day: A Mother’s Reflection on Loss, Love, and Unbearable Tragedy
Memorial Day: A Mother’s Reflection on Loss, Love, and Unbearable Tragedy beautifully captures the deep sorrow and unwavering love a mother feels for her son. The author bravely shares her heartfelt journey, navigating the immense pain and heartbreak tied to her son’s fourth suicide attempt on Memorial Day. Through her poignant narrative, she reveals the complex layers of a mother’s grief, intricately woven with fleeting moments of hope that resonate powerfully with anyone who is facing loss.
“Shaped by Love–And This Grief Come to Stay”: A Poem on Suicide Loss
Holding True to My Son’s Narrative: “Shaped by Love” Poem Analysis explores the profound sorrow a parent endures after losing a child to suicide. It addresses themes of grief and guilt, highlighting the heavy shadow such a tragedy casts on life. This poignant narrative captures a parent’s transformative journey in the wake of their child’s absence, revealing emotions of shame while confronting societal stigma surrounding suicide. With compassion and insight, the poem resonates with anyone who has faced similar heart-wrenching experiences.
11 Years After Suicide Loss: I Still Want to Believe
11 Years After Suicide Loss: I Still Want to Believe powerfully conveys the depths of my unyielding grief and a relentless yearning for my beloved son, Dylan, whose vibrant spirit was tragically stolen by suicide eleven heart-wrenching years ago at merely twenty. As my only child, his absence has carved an immense void in my soul, reshaping every facet of my life while perpetually stirring the cherished memories of the beautiful moments we once savored together.
If You Need Immediate Support
Online Directory for Coping with Grief, Trauma, and Distress
After A Suicide Resource Directory: Coping with Grief, Trauma, and Distress
http://www.personalgriefcoach.net
This online directory links people who are grieving after a suicide death to resources and information.
Alliance of Hope for Suicide Survivors
http://www.allianceofhope.org
This organization for survivors of suicide loss provides information sheets, a blog, and a community forum through which survivors can share with each other.
Friends for Survival
http://www.friendsforsurvival.org
This organization is for suicide loss survivors and professionals who work with them. It produces a monthly newsletter and runs the Suicide Loss Helpline (1-800-646-7322). It also published Pathways to Purpose and Hope, a guide to building a community-based suicide survivor support program.
HEARTBEAT: Grief Support Following Suicide
http://heartbeatsurvivorsaftersuicide.org
This organization has chapters providing support groups for survivors of suicide loss in Colorado and some other states. Its website provides information sheets for survivors and a leader’s guide on how to start a new chapter of HEARTBEAT.
Professional Organizations
American Association of Suicidology
suicidology.org • (202) 237-2280
Promotes public awareness, education and training for professionals, and sponsors an annual Healing After Suicide conference for suicide loss survivors. In addition to the conference, they offer a coping with suicide grief handbook by Jeffrey Jackson. This booklet is also available in Spanish.
The Compassionate Friends
compassionatefriends.org • (877) 969-0010
Offers resources for families after the death of a child. They sponsor support groups, newsletters and online support groups throughout the country, as well as an annual national conference for bereaved families.
The Dougy Center
The National Center for Grieving Children & Families
dougy.org • (503) 775-5683
Publishes extensive resources for helping children and teens who are grieving a death including death by suicide. Resources include the “Children, Teens and Suicide Loss” booklet created in partnership with AFSP. This booklet is also available in Spanish.
Link’s National Resource Center for Suicide Prevention and Aftercare
thelink.org/nrc-for-suicide-prevention-aftercar • 404-256-2919
Dedicated to reaching out to those whose lives have been impacted by suicide and connecting them to available resources.
Tragedy Assistance Programs for Survivors (TAPS)
taps.org/suicide • (800) 959-TAPS (8277)
Provides comfort, care and resources to all those grieving the death of a military loved one through a national peer support network and connection to grief resources, all at no cost to surviving families and loved ones.
LOSS
losscs.org
Offers support groups, remembrance events, companioning, suicide postvention and prevention education, and training to other communities interested in developing or enhancing their suicide postvention and prevention efforts.
Crisis Services
988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline
988lifeline.org
Call or text 988 (press 1 for Veterans, 2 for Spanish, 3 for LGBTQ+ youth and young adults) or chat 988lifeline.org
A 24-hour, toll-free suicide prevention service available to anyone in suicidal crisis. You will be routed to the closest possible crisis center in your area. With crisis centers across the country, their mission is to provide immediate assistance to anyone seeking mental health services. Call for yourself, or someone you care about. Your call is free and confidential.
Crisis Text Line
crisistextline.org
Text TALK to 741-741 for English
Text AYUDA to 741-741 for Spanish
Provides free, text-based mental health support and crisis intervention by empowering a community of trained volunteers to support people in their moments of need, 24/7.
Related Reads
NEWEST POSTS
The Slow Onward March of “Why Suicide, Why? ”: A Mother’s Reflections on Losing Her Son
The Slow Onward March of “Why Suicide, Why? ”: A Mother’s Reflections on Losing Her Son Seasonal Grief After Suicide Loss: Spring & Summer Risk, Longing, and Understanding Introduction Note: The Slow Onward March of “Why Suicide,Why?”: A Mother’s Reflections on Losing Her Son was written from early grief, and I’m revisiting it now as…
Read More
Echoes of Joy and Shadows of Loss: A Grief Journey
Echoes of Joy and Shadows of Loss: A Grief Journey Introduction Echoes of Joy and Shadows of Loss: A Grief Journey explores the profound grief of a mother reflecting on her son Dylan’s life, filled with joy and subsequent loss. It highlights memories intertwined with melancholy, such as football games under the bright autumn sky…
Read More
“White Peonies in Bloom”: A Devotional for Grieving Parents
“White Peonies in Bloom”: A Devotional for Grieving Parents Introduction “White Peonies in Bloom”: A Devotional for Grieving Parents offers a deeply empathetic devotional reflection for grieving parents titled ‘White Peonies in Bloom.’ This tender piece gently explores the exquisite beauty of white peonies, serving as a comforting reminder for parents who are enduring the…
Read More
Guilt After Losing a Child to Suicide
Guilt After Losing a Child to Suicide Guilt in Suicide Loss: Painful and Persistent Guilt is one of the most painful and persistent parts of suicide loss. Parents replay conversations, missed signs, and imagined alternate endings—believing they should have prevented the unpreventable. Why Parents Feel Guilt Guilt Is Not Proof of Failure Guilt is grief…
Read More
Losing a Child to Suicide: A Parent’s Guide to Grief
Losing a Child to Suicide: A Parent’s Guide to Grief Early grief, understanding suicide loss, and survival A Loss Unlike Any Other Losing a child to suicide is a loss unlike any other. It shatters assumptions, fractures identity, and leaves parents searching for answers that may never come. If you are here, you are not…
Read MoreSomething went wrong. Please refresh the page and/or try again.
Get new posts delivered to your inbox.
Discover more from My Forever Son: Grief and Healing After Losing a Child to Suicide
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
2 replies on “Why Suicides Spike in Spring and Summer”
[…] Why Suicides Spike in Spring and Summer […]
[…] Why Suicides Spike in Spring and Summer […]