Surviving the Suicide of Your Child: Support, Resources, Hope

Surviving the Suicide of Your Child: Support, Resources, Hope

Summary and Introduction

This post provides valuable information and resources for parents who have lost a child to suicide. It shares the author’s personal experience and offers suggestions for support and healing.

This post provides important resources for those seeking support and healing after the loss of a child to suicide. It shares the author’s personal experience and offers suggestions for support and healing. Included, too, are personal stories and links to relevant resources.

The suicide of a child of any age presents unique circumstances that can intensify and prolong the mourning process for parents, family members and friends. Suicide is believed to be a reaction to overwhelming feelings of loneliness, worthlessness, helplessness, hopelessness and depression. Suicide is the third leading cause of death in the United States among 10-14 year olds and 15-24 year olds, and the second leading cause among 25-34 year olds.

The Compassionate Friends, Surviving Your Child’s Suicide

Surviving the Suicide of My Son

In June 2012, I lost my son to suicide. I’ve been writing ever since. I started a Google Blogger site (My Forever Son: My Beloved Dylan-Losing My Son to Suicide) in 2015. I was 3 years out from Dylan’s memorial date. I wrote as I felt, slogging through the mess that was left of my life, counting each minute, hour, day, month, year since losing my son to suicide.

In acute grief those first, few years, I sought out every means of support. I researched and read about suicide: looking for answers; wanting to know “Why?”; searching for a way to go on, hold on, continue living when all I wanted to do was be with my son.

What Helped: Local and Online Support Groups

I joined local and online support groups in my area:

• Parents of Suicide, an online community of parents who have lost a child. Learn more about Parents of Suicide. Parents of Suicide was, has been, and is an ongoing key source of support and understanding for me. If you are a parent who has lost your child to suicide, go directly to Parents of Suicide.
• The Compassionate Friends: to suicide. Learn more about The Compassionate Friends. I found and attend a local meeting of The Compassionate Friends. You will find parents who have lost a child to any cause at the meetings. The Compassionate Friends also has an excellent online site.
• The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention: Learn more about The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. Because I lost my son to suicide, I found the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention a rich resource bank for videos, books, personal stories, tips for self-care, and survival strategies when you’ve lost your child to suicide. It’s an excellent resource and has local, state, and national gatherings, including walks you can sign up for to take back the night. The walks are powerful and moving as you meet and walk with others bereaved by suicide.

Books and Resources About Losing a Child to Suicide

In the beginning and in acute grief, I read everything I could find about losing a child to suicide. I still read books about losing a child to suicide. I found the online sites below helpful as they provide lists of resources and reading material (book lists; pamphlets; downloadable booklets).

• The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP). Learn more about Books for Loss Survivors.
• American Association of Suicidology. Learn more about resources available at American Association of Suicidology
• Nationwide Children’s Hospital. Learn more about Nationwide Children’s Hospital. See especially Don’t Say It’s Selfish: Suicide is Not a Choice. I have found this resource especially helpful. If you’ve lost a young child, this site can help.
• Survivors of Suicide: Learn more about The Survivors of Suicide
• The Mayo Clinic: Learn more about the Mayo Clinic and suicide grief
• What’s Your Grief? Learn more at their resources at What’s Your Grief? What a great online grief site written by 2 grief counselors. Their rich resource bank of articles that they’ve written includes well-researched studies and methodologies. They add a personal touch by sharing their own grief stories and experiences.
• Parents of Suicide and Friends and Families of Suicide are open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. Moderators (parents with more time out from their child’s suicide) and other parents are always there to respond to you. And if you don’t want to write, you can always read the emails from other parents who have lost their child to suicide. Go to Parents of Suicide to learn more.
• Faces of Suicide Books, Volumes 1-5. Learn more about books written by parents who lose a child to suicide at Faces of Suicide Books, Volumes 1-5.

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Download 3 Free Poems About Losing a Child to Suicide

Download 3 Free Poems About Losing a Child to Suicide

Bury My Heart: Poems About Losing a Child to Suicide

Poems About Losing a Child to Suicide

I write poems about losing a child to suicide. Bury My Heart: Poems About Losing a Child to Suicide is a collection of poems I’ve written over the course of my grief. The book is available for purchase, and many of the poems are included in this blog, My Forever Son. Go to Find Hope Here: Poems About Losing a Child to Suicide for a collection of poems.

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Hope and Healing

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About My Forever Son Blog

My Forever Son is about my experience moving forward after losing my only child, my son Dylan, to suicide. Search the categories below to find numerous resources for parents who lose a child to suicide. Visit the Index: My Forever Son for descriptions of categories and an overview to navigating this blog.

Categories

My Forever Son: Chronicling Grief, Hope, and Healing After Losing My Son to Suicide.

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Resources that Can Help

1. The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention: page for survivors of suicide loss.
2. The American Association of Suicidology: Suicide Loss
3. The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention: A.F.S.P. support group listing.
4. The Compassionate Friends: “Surviving Your Child’s Suicide”
5. The Compassionate Friends offers in-person support groups, as well as Facebook groups, one called “Loss Due to Suicide.”
6. Find Support at Alliance of Hope. They provide information, consultations, and support to suicide loss survivors through their website and online community forum.
7. “Beyond Surviving: Suggestions for Survivors” By Iris M. Bolton

Beyond Surviving: Suggestions for Survivors

Iris Bolton, author of Beyond Surviving: Suggestions for Survivors, has written several books about suicide loss, grief, and healing. Bolton’s book, My Son, My Son, helped me feel less alone. Bolton writes about losing her son to suicide, stories of hope and healing, and grief after suicide loss.

Excerpt from Beyond Surviving: Suggestions for Survivors by Iris M. Bolton:

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