Grandparents’ Double Grief: Losing a Grandchild to Suicide

Grandparents’ Double Grief: When Losing a Grandchild to Suicide Means Grieving Their Child, Too

Summary

The article Grandparents’ Double Grief: Losing a Grandchild to Suicide explores the profound grief experienced by grandparents who lose a grandchild to suicide, a grief compounded by witnessing their child’s suffering. It emphasizes the unique bond between grandparents and grandchildren and offers insights into supporting grieving grandparents. The article highlights the importance of empathy, compassion, and open dialogue in helping grandparents cope with their double grief.

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Introduction

The loss of a grandchild is a profound and unique grief, one that many grandparents experience while navigating their role as a pillar of support for their families. Grandparents experiencing a loss due to Sudden Unexplained Death in Childhood (SUDC) often face what is known as “double grief”: mourning the devastating loss of their grandchild while witnessing the deep sorrow and pain of their own child. This layered grief can feel overwhelming, as grandparents grieve not only for their grandchild’s life but also for the life their child once knew.

Grandparents’ Double Grief: Losing a Grandchild to Suicide explores the profound and heartbreaking sorrow that envelops grandparents facing the unimaginable loss of their grandchild. Throughout this painful journey, they find themselves mourning not only the precious life that has been lost, but also the broken dreams and treasured memories that will tragically remain unfulfilled for their own child, the grieving parent.

Grandparents’ Double Grief: Losing a Grandchild to Suicide begins by beautifully capturing the deep emotional connection to the grandmother’s house and the cherished family table, which serve as comforting anchors during times of unimaginable loss. The story, A Grandmother’s Love Held Together the Family Table, vividly portrays the special bond between grandparents and grandchildren, highlighting the unique roles that grandparents play in nurturing and guiding the younger generation.

“When grandparents experience the tragic [and sudden] loss [of a grandchild], they confront what is termed ‘double grief’: grappling with the unbearable loss of their grandchild while simultaneously witnessing the immense sorrow and anguish felt by their own child.”

Through touching anecdotes and profound reflections, Grandparents’ Double Grief: Losing a Grandchild to Suicide provides essential insights into supporting grieving grandparents, emphasizing the vital roles of empathy, compassion, and open dialogue in helping grandparents cope with their sorrow.

Related Reads

• A Grandmother’s Love Held Together the Family Table
• Twenty Years of Love: Dylan
• What to Say to Parents Who Lose a Child to Suicide
• Navigating Grief After Losing a Child to Suicide
• Understanding Grief: 3 Years After Losing a Child

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My Forever Son

Table of Contents

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The Crucial Role of Grandparents: “A Grandmother’s Love Held the Family Table Together”

This long, sturdy pine table would be big enough for our small, close-knit family

I was with my mother when she purchased the sturdy, long, pine table. With two leaves, one for each end of the table, this table would be big enough for our small, close-knit family. My sister and her family, including her two children, plus my parents, plus room now for both Dylan and me.

A pretty, southwestern style, fabric-covered bench provided room enough for three grandchildren on one side of the long table. My parents sat at the ends of the table, and my sister, brother-in-law, and I sat in chairs aligned to our corresponding child (or children in my sister’s case) across the table. Dylan sat on the bench closest to his grandmother, and I sat across the table from Dylan, closest to my mother.

Pizza night, all our holidays–all happy times, all take-it-for-granted times

Pizza night, all of our holidays (Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter), summer picnic-style food get-togethers, New Year’s Day celebrations, elaborate formal dinners, and casual grab-a-plate-and-a-burger: our family’s everything happened at this table. Homework when Dylan spent time with Grandma while I was teaching a late class, birthday galas through the years, special occasions when great-grandma was still here: all happy times, take-it-for-granted times.

We laughed, relaxed, and enjoyed good food and family. Later, we would play card and board games on the table. This table. This family of ours. These then our children. Dylan my child. Dylan belonging to all of us.

As a mother, I know the pain of losing my son. As Dylan’s grandmother, my mother knows the pain both of losing a grandchild and the pain of witnessing my grief in losing Dylan.

Beth Brown, My Forever Son, A Grandparent’s Grief

A Double Grief for Grandparents Who Lost a Grandchild to Suicide

What happens to that bond when a grandchild dies? Grandparents’ Double Grief

What happens to that bond when a grandchild dies? Often grandparents experience a profound sense of pain, confusion and anguish. The sense of loss becomes double fold. They deeply miss the child and also grieve for their own child who is suffering so much. A sense of helplessness can be pervasive. How can this be? How can I outlive my own grandchild? How can I possibly help? How can I express my own grief when my own child is hurting?

This tragic event may be experienced as a secondary grief, or worse, an unrecognized grief. Grandparents may often feel very alone in their sorrow. This sense of helplessness and isolation can quickly lead to depression.

Hospice of the Valley, Grandparent Grief: Marked by multiple loss, New Song

My mother knows the pain both of losing a grandchild and the pain of witnessing my grief in losing Dylan

As a mother, I know the pain of losing my son. As Dylan’s grandmother, my mother knows the pain both of losing a grandchild and the pain of witnessing my grief in losing Dylan. As I write, it’s now been a decade of grief, and while I have come so far from those desperate days of not wanting to be here without my son, I am forever changed.

My mother bears the weight of a double loss: a great and infinite grief in losing her grandson, and a great and infinite grief in losing her daughter to an unending grief

I have learned to move forward with my grief, carrying my son always wherever I am and wherever I go. But I bear the weight of having lost my son and my mother sees and knows this in me. She bears the weight of a double loss: a great and infinite grief in losing her grandson, and a deep, abiding grief in watching me change so much this past decade.

Grieving What Might Have Been: A Grandparents’ Connections Change After Losing a Grandchild

Grandparents also grieve what might have been

In grieving twice, grandparents also grieve what might have been.

The relationship between a grandparent and a grandchild is very special and unique. When a grandchild dies, the grief associated with the loss is often so intense and painful, it leaves bereaved grandparents feeling hopeless as they experience what many refer to as a double loss. Not only do they mourn for their grandchild, they may also feel a sense of helplessness because they are unable to take away the pain felt by the parents of their grandchild, one of whom is their own child.

The Grief of Grandparents, The Compassionate Friends

A Grandparent’s Connections Change

And in so many ways, their connections change. Those who have not lost a grandchild talk easily and well about how proud they are of their grandchildren, what they are doing, the trials and tribulations in their grandchildren’s lives.

In this ordinary world (where the grandchild, by nature, outlives the grandparents), a grandparent belongs to the rich tradition and prestige ascribed to them. Grandparents belong both to their grandchild and to all the rest of their community. They share photos and accomplishments of their grandchild. And they feel proud.

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How to Help Grieving Grandparents With Double Loss

“When a grandchild dies, grandparents grieve twice. They mourn the loss of the child and they feel the pain of their own child’s suffering.”

A child or young adult has died. Everyone who loved the child is now faced with mourning this tragic, untimely death. The child’s parents are heartbroken. But what about the grandparents? How might they be feeling? How can you help them with their unique grief?

Alan D. Wolfelt, Ph.D.,
Director of the Center for Loss and Life Transition, Helping a Grandparent Who Is Grieving

Healing a Grandparent’s Grieving Heart: Practical Ideas to Help

Practical Ideas to Help Grandparents After Losing a Grandchild

(The excerpt below can be found in its entirety here: Alan Wolfelt, Healing a Grandparent’s Grieving Heart: 100 Practical Ideas After Your Grandchild Dies.)

Help Grandparents Heal Their Double Grief

Alan Wolfelt offers suggestions about how to help grandparents who are grieving the loss of their grandchild:

Realize that a grandparent’s grief after losing a grandchild to suicide is unique

When a grandchild dies, the grandparent often mourns the death on many levels. The grandparent probably loved the child dearly and may have been very close to him or her. The death has created a hole in the grandparent’s life that cannot be filled by anyone else. Grandparents who were not close to the child who died, perhaps because they lived far away, may instead mourn the loss of a relationship they never had.

Grieving grandparents are also faced with witnessing their child-the parent of the child who died-mourn the death. A parent’s love for a child is perhaps the strongest of all human bonds. For the parents of the child who died, the pain of grief may seem intolerable. For the grandparents, watching their own child suffer so and feeling powerless to take away the hurt can feel almost as intolerable.

Acknowledge the grandparent’s search for meaning After Losing a Child to Suicide

When someone loved dies, we all ponder the meaning of life and death. When a child or young adult dies, this search for meaning can be especially painful. Young people aren’t supposed to die. The death violates the natural order of life and seems terribly unfair.

For grandparents, who may have lived long, rich lives already, the struggle to understand the death may bring about feelings of guilt. “Why didn’t God take me, instead?” the grandparent may ask himself. “Why couldn’t it have been me?”

Such feelings are both normal and necessary. You can help by encouraging the grandparent to talk about them.

Respect faith and spirituality

Many people develop strong commitments to faith and spirituality as they get older. If you allow them, grieving grandparents will “teach you” about the role of faith and spirituality in their lives. Encourage them to express their faith if doing so helps them heal in grief.

Sometimes, however, faith can naturally complicate healing. The grandparent may feel angry at God for “taking” the grandchild. He then may feel guilty about his anger, because, he may reason, God is not to be questioned. Or the grandparent may struggle with feelings of doubt about God’s plan or the afterlife.

Talking with a pastor may help the grandparent, as long as the pastor allows the grandparent to honestly express her feelings of anger, guilt and sadness. No one should tell a grandparent that she shouldn’t grieve because the child has gone to heaven; mourning and having faith are not mutually exclusive.

Listen with your heart

You can begin to help by simply listening. Your physical presence and desire to listen without judging are critical helping tools. Don’t worry so much about what you will say. Just concentrate on the words that are being shared with you.

The grieving grandparent may want to share the same story about the death over and over again. It’s as if talking about the death makes it a little more bearable each time. Listen attentively. Realize that this repetition is part of the grandparent’s healing process. Simply listen and try to understand.

Sometimes grandparents, especially grandfathers, don’t want to talk about the death. They may have been raised to believe that talking about feelings is frivolous or selfish or unmanly. It’s OK; they don’t have to talk. Simply spending time with them demonstrates your love and concern.

Be compassionate

Give the grandparent permission to express her feelings without fear of criticism. Learn from the grandparent; don’t instruct or set expectations about she should respond. Never say, “I know just how you feel.” You don’t. Think about your helper role as someone who “walks with” not “behind” or “in front of” the grieving grandparent.

Allow the grandparent to experience all the hurt, sorrow and pain that he is feeling at the time. Enter into his feelings, but never try to take them away. And recognize that tears are a natural and appropriate expression of the pain associated with the death.

• Avoid clichés.
• Offer practical help.
• Write a personal note.
• Be aware of holidays and other significant days.

“You can help by not forgetting, by offering the grandparents your love, support and presence in the weeks and months [and years] to come.”

When a grandchild dies, grandparents grieve twice. They mourn the loss of the child and they feel the pain of their own child’s suffering. Sometimes we forget about the grandparents when a child dies. You can help by not forgetting, by offering the grandparents your love, support and presence in the weeks and months to come.

Alan D. Wolfelt, Ph.D.
Director of the Center for Loss and Life Transition, Helping a Grandparent Who is Grieving

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An Out of Order Death: Grandparents’ Double Grief After Losing a Grandchild

Grandparents who outlast a grandchild struggle with a death that seems out of order; they may cope with survival guilt, perhaps wondering why they couldn’t have died instead.

By Helen Fitzgerald, CT, Working through the Grief of Grandparents

A Loss that Resonates Through the Generations

Grandparents who outlast a grandchild struggle with a death that seems out of order; they may cope with survival guilt, perhaps wondering why they couldn’t have died instead. Moreover, a grandchild’s death chips away at a grandparent’s assumed legacy.

Most of us hope to make a mark in the world, and the achievements of our children and grandchildren are a part of that dream. When one dies prematurely, that loss resonates through the generations, and like the bell in John Donne’s poem – “it tolls for thee.”

By Helen Fitzgerald, CT, Working through the Grief of Grandparents

If you are a grandparent who has lost a grandchild, you have every reason to grieve deeply. Life is complex, and many of our fundamental questions have no apparent answer: Why do such bad things happen?
What is the meaning of such pain?

Helen Fitzgerald, The Grief of Grandparents, American Hospice Foundation

Fitzgerald advises grandparents grieving the loss of a grandchild:

For now, your task is to mourn the death of this child and to take care of yourself as best as you can. If you want help, look for a book that addresses parental grief and substitute “grandparent” as you read. Perhaps your local hospice, faith community or mental health center has a support group for grieving grandparents. If not, ask them start one. There may be other grieving grandparents among your friends and neighbors, and you can share your common grief and mutual comfort.

Helen Fitzgerald, The Grief of Grandparents, American Hospice Foundation

“Above all,” Fitzgerald advises, “be patient with yourself, and:

• Don’t try to suppress your grief. Stoicism won’t work.
• Select the relatives or friends who give you comfort, and tell them how you feel.
• Don’t accept a comparison of your grief to that of others; grief is unique to each person.
• Take time off from your grief occasionally. Go visit a friend or take a short vacation at a place that you love.
• The loss of a beloved grandchild is a severe blow, but avoid thinking that life has no more to offer. Some of the world’s grandest music and literature were created out of personal tragedy. Find your own expression of your loss and your search for meaning –- see if you can create your own requiem.”

The loss of a beloved grandchild is a severe blow, but avoid thinking that life has no more to offer. Some of the world’s grandest music and literature were created out of personal tragedy. Find your own expression of your loss and your search for meaning –- see if you can create your own requiem.

Helen Fitzgerald, The Grief of Grandparents

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A Grandmother’s Love Held Together the Family Table

The Family Table: A true story of a Grandmother’s Love

Even though this house hasn’t been hers for at least five years, my grandma’s old house still awakens memories deep inside of me. I remember walking to her house after elementary school and riding my bike over to play computer games. I remember the family dinners and her tiny cocker spaniel. Most of my fondest childhood memories are from my grandma’s old house.

Dylan Andrew Brown, The Family Table: Love, Loss, and Healing, My Forever Son

Our family’s table is now my own

Our family’s table is now my own. The beautiful memories are all still there, interwoven in the stories we continue to tell about Dylan, his growing up years, the happier times–when we were all one.

We will be one again–someday–and in-between the stretch of here and wherever forever is, I find comfort in the familiar table and chairs. But the bench? Well, my sister’s children are grown, and I just haven’t had the heart to use the bench as it always was at our table. I’ve repurposed it, tucked it against a wall where still it’s practical, a good place to sit and a good place to set groceries and what not.

But sometimes when I look, I still see Dylan, all his growing up years, all when we, as a family, were one.

But sometimes when I look, I still see Dylan, all his growing up years, all when we, as a family, were one.

Beth Brown, A Grandmother’s Love Held Together the Family Table, My Forever Son

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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.

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Resources and Support Groups

Parents of Suicides and Friends & Families of Suicides (POS-FFOS)
http://www.pos-ffos.com
This website provides a public message board called Suicide Grief Support Forum, a listserv for parents, a separate listserv for others, and an online chat room for survivors of suicide loss.

Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors (TAPS)
https://www.taps.org/suicide
This organization provides resources and programs for people grieving the loss of a loved one who died while serving in the U.S. armed forces or as a result of their service. It has special resources and programs for suicide loss survivors.

United Survivors
https://unitesurvivors.org/
This organization is a place where people who have experienced suicide loss, suicide attempts, and suicidal thoughts and feelings, and their friends and families, can connect to use their lived experience to advocate for policy, systems, and cultural change.

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.

Online resources

Alliance of Hope
allianceofhope.org
Provides a 24/7 online forum for suicide loss survivors.

Help Guide
helpguide.org
Provides resources and tips for how to navigate the loss of someone to suicide.

Parents of Suicides (POS) – Friends and Families of Suicides (FFOS)
pos-ffos.com
An internet community to connect parents, friends, and family that have lost someone to suicide.

SAVE: Suicide Awareness Voices of Education
save.org/programs/suicide-loss-support • (952) 946-7998
Hosts resources for suicide loss survivor including a support group database, newsletter, survivor conference and the Named Memorial Program, which offers a special way to honor your loved one.

Siblings Survivors of Suicide Loss
siblingsurvivors.com
Provides resources and a platform to connect with others that have lost a sibling to suicide.

Finding professional care and support

Find a mental health provider

• afsp.org/FindAMentalHealthProfessional
• findtreatment.samhsa.gov
• mentalhealthamerica.net/finding-help
• inclusivetherapists.com
• afsp.org/suicide-bereavement-trained-clinicians

Find a provider for prolonged grief

• prolongedgrief.columbia.edu

Find additional resources for marginalized communities

• afsp.org/mental-health-resources-for-marginalized-communities

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.

Parents of Suicides: An Online Support Group for Parents Who Lose a Child to Suicide

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Parents of Suicides is a dedicated international online closed email group where parents who have lost a child to suicide come together to offer support, hope, and healing. Join a Community of Understanding. Parents of Suicides (PoS) provides a safe space for sharing experiences, coping mechanisms, and emotional support. You are not alone in this journey. Together, we can find strength and solace.

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Support and Resources for Grieving Parents of Suicide Loss

Support Groups

• Alliance for Hope for suicide loss survivors – https://forum.allianceofhope.org/forums/-/list
• American Foundation for Suicide Prevention – https://afsp.org/find-a-support-group
• American Society of Suicidology – https://suicidology.org/resources/suicide-loss-survivors/
• British Columbia Bereavement Helpline, Suicide Grief Support – https://bcbh.ca/grief-support/suicide-grief-support/
• Coalition of Clinician-Survivors – https://www.cliniciansurvivor.org/# 
• Community Support After Suicide (Peachtree Comprehensive Health) – https://www.pchprofessionals.com/community-support-after-suicide  
• Compassionate Friends Loss to Suicide group – https://www.facebook.com/groups/tcflosstosuicide
• Emotions Matter Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) Loss Group – https://emotionsmatterbpd.org/bpd-loss-group (note that not all losses are suicide, though many are. All losses have a connection to BPD.)
• Friends and Families of Suicide (FFOS) – https://www.pos-ffos.com/groups/ffos.htm
• Friends for Survival – https://friendsforsurvival.org/
• Heartbeat: Grief Support Following Suicide – https://www.heartbeatsurvivorsaftersuicide.org/services
• Helping Parents Heal: Special Interest Group -Moving Forward After Suicide – https://www.helpingparentsheal.org/affiliate-groups/special-interest-groups/ (note that Helping Parents Heal “goes a step beyond other groups by allowing the open discussion of spiritual experiences and afterlife evidence—in a non-dogmatic way.  HPH affiliate groups welcome everyone regardless of religious or non-religious background and encourage open dialog.”)
• Long Island Survivors of Suicide – https://lisos.org/ 
• The Lounge – https://www.workingonmygrief.com/about-4 
• Parents of Suicide (POS) – https://www.pos-ffos.com/groups/pos.htm
• Sail to Heal – https://www.sail2heal.org/ 
• Smile through the Storms – https://www.smilethroughthestorms.com/ 
• Suicide Awareness Voices of Education (SAVE) – https://save.org/save-support-groups/
• Working on My Grief  – https://www.workingonmygrief.com/ 

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Books for Understanding Suicide And Mental Health

An Unquiet Mind: A Memoir of Moods and Madness
Kay Redfield Jamison, Ph.D., Alfred A. Knopf, 1995. In this memoir, an international authority on Manic Depression (Bipolar Disorder describes her own struggle since adolescence with the disorder, and how it has shaped her life.

Darkness Visible
William Styron, Random House, 1990. A powerful and moving first-hand account of what depression feels like to the sufferer.

Devastating Losses: How Parents Cope with the Death of a Child to Suicide or Drugs
William Feigelman, Ph.D., John Jordan, Ph.D., John McIntosh, Ph.D., Beverly Feigelman, LCSW, Springer Publishing, 2012. This book provides useful avenues for future research on suicide loss and offers new insights into the grief process that follows the death of a child, both in the short term and years after a loss.  Please note that, given its academic tone, the book is better suited to clinicians and educators than to recently bereaved lay readers.

Night Falls Fast: Understanding Suicide
Kay Redfield Jamison, Ph.D., Alfred A. Knopf, 1999. Kay Redfield Jamison’s in-depth psychological and scientific exploration of suicide traces the network of reasons underlying suicide, including the factors that interact to cause suicide, and outlines the evolving treatments available through modern medicine.

The Noonday Demon: An Atlas of Depression
Andrew Solomon, Scribner, 2001.Winner of the National Book Award, this book shares the author’s story of chronic depression, and places depression in a broader social context.

Why People Die by Suicide
Thomas Joiner, Ph.D., Harvard University Press, 2005.
Drawing on extensive clinical and epidemiological evidence, as well as personal experience, the author, who lost his father to suicide, identifies three factors that mark those most at risk of considering, attempting, or dying by suicide.

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Recommended Reading

Book Recommendation: ‘A Handbook for Coping with Suicide Grief’ by Jeffrey Jackson, providing support for survivors of suicide loss, My Forever Son

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Books

• Beal, Karyl Chastain (2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018). Faces of Suicide, Volumes One to Five.
• Brown, Beth (2023) Bury My Heart: 19 Poems for Grief and Healing After Losing a Child to Suicide
• Cacciatore, Joanne (2017). Bearing the Unbearable. Wisdom Publications.
• Clark, Ann (2020). Gone to Suicide. A mom’s truth on heartbreak, transformation and prevention. Iuniverse.
• Collins, Eileen Vorbach (2023). Love in the Archives. a patchwork of true stories about suicide loss. Apprentice House Press.
• Cross, Tracey (2013). Suicide among gifted children and adolescents. Understanding the suicidal mind. Prufrock Press.
• Dougy Center, The (2001). After a Suicide: An Activity Book for Grieving Kids. Dougy Center.
• Estes, Clarissa Pinkola (1988). The Faithful Gardener. HarperCollinsSanFrancisco.
• Fine, Carla (1997). No Time to Say Goodbye. Surviving the suicide of a loved one. Broadway Books.
• Heilmann, Lena M.Q. (2019). Still with Us. Voices of Sibling Suicide Loss Survivors. BDI Publishers.
• Hickman, Martha Whitmore (1994). Healing After Loss: Daily Meditations For Working Through Grief. William Morrow Paperbacks
• Jamison, Kay Redfield (2000). Night Falls Fast: Understanding Suicide. Vintage.
• Johnson, Julie Tallard (1994). Hidden Victims, Hidden Healers. An eight-stage healing process for families and friends of the mentally ill. Pema Publications.
• Joiner, Thomas (2005). Why People Die by Suicide. Harvard University Press
• Joiner, Thomas (2010). Myths About Suicide. Harvard University Press.
• Kushner, Harold S. (2004). When Bad Things Happen to Good People. Anchor Books
• O’Connor, Mary-Francis (2022). The Grieving Brain. HarperOne.
• Rasmussen, Christina (2019). Second Firsts. Hay House Inc.
• Shapiro, Larry (2020). Brain Pain. Giving insight to children who have lost a family member or a loved one to suicide. Safe Haven Books.
• Wickersham, Julie (2009). The Suicide Index: Putting My Father’s Death in Order. Mariner Books.

Therapies

• Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) – https://www.apa.org/ptsd-guideline/patients-and-families/cognitive-behavioral
• Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT) – https://dbt-lbc.org/index.php
• Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) – https://www.emdria.org/
• Prolonged Exposure (PE) – https://www.apa.org/ptsd-guideline/treatments/prolonged-exposure 

Memorial Sites

• Faces of Suicide – memorial site for those who died by suicide –  https://www.facesofsuicide.com/
• Suicide Memorial Wall – tribute site for those who died by suicide – https://www.suicidememorialwall.com/