Navigating Guilt in Grief: A Parent’s Guide

Navigating Guilt in Grief: A Parent’s Guide

Summary

“Navigating Guilt in Grief: A Parent’s Guide” explores the complex emotions parents face after losing a child to suicide. The guide offers practical advice and coping strategies to help parents process guilt and move towards acceptance. It emphasizes that guilt is a common feeling among grieving parents, but it is important to remember that they are not solely responsible for their child’s actions.

Introduction

Navigating Guilt in Grief: A Parent’s Guide compassionately explores the complex emotions parents face after the suicide of a child. It addresses the intense feelings of grief, guilt, and despair that can follow such a tragic loss. Through personal stories and poignant quotes, the guide provides relatable insights to comfort parents on their healing journey. It reassures them that their emotions are valid and that they are not alone.

Related Reads

• Coping with Guilt After Losing a Child to Suicide
• Navigating Grief: My Journey After Losing My Son
• My Forever Son: Healing After Losing a Child to Suicide
• Coping with Holiday Grief: A Guide for Parents
• Healing After Losing a Child to Suicide: A Parent’s Guide

---

My Forever Son

---

Table of Contents

---

Navigating Guilt in Grief: A Parent’s Guide

Psychiatrists theorize that human nature subconsciously resists so strongly the idea that we cannot control all the events of our lives that we would rather fault ourselves for a tragic occurrence than accept our inability to prevent it.”

Jeffrey Jackson, Handbook for Coping with Suicide Grief, The American Association of Suicidology

Why Do We Blame Ourselves? Grief Experts Tell Us Why

We would rather feel guilty than feel helpless.

David Kessler, Grief.com

How Could I Not Feel Responsible for My Son?

I’ve always felt a deep sense of responsibility for my son. Dylan was an only child. When Dylan died by suicide in June 2012, he was still living at home. How could I not feel responsible for him?

Yes, Dylan was a college student, but that didn’t mean things at home had changed that much.

Dylan’s Bedroom Still Looked the Same

Dylan’s bedroom still looked the same: guitar in the corner, dresser with top drawers filled with leftover childhood memories: Legos, action figures, magic cards, a few coins and currency from his trip abroad while in high school, saxophone reeds, Altoid mints, a paper menu from his favorite Chinese restaurant–The Double Dragon, his desktop computer, and his desk lamp in the shape of the Eiffel Tower.

He still seemed very much “my kid.” In truth, though, Dylan will always be 19 years old to me, always “my kid,” always my beloved son who didn’t seem really grown up yet.

We would rather fault ourselves for a tragic occurrence than accept our inability to prevent it.

David Kessler, Grief.com

---

Podcast: “Let Go of Blame and Guilt” by Jeffrey Jackson

Jeffrey Jackson, in an interview with The American Association of Suicidology, sums up our reluctance to let go of blame and guilt:

Guilt and Self-Blame is Usually a “Solo Trip” for Survivors of Suicide Loss

One of the most unusual aspects of survivor guilt is that it is usually a solo trip. Each survivor tends to blame primarily themselves.

Try asking another person who is also mourning your lost loved one about any guilt feelings that are haunting them. Chances are you will find that each person—no matter how close or removed they were from the suicide victim—willingly takes the lion’s share of blame on themselves.

Jeffrey Jackson, A Handbook for Coping with Suicide Grief, American Association of Suicidology

---

Parents of Children Who Die by Suicide Often Face Unique Guilt

Parents of children who die by suicide often battle an added
type of guilt. Even if they do not blame themselves for not
directly intervening in the suicidal act, they often feel guilt over
some perceived mistake in raising their children. “Where did I
go wrong?,” “I pushed them too hard” and “If we hadn’t gotten
divorced…” are just a few on the list of self-recriminations.

But parents need to remind themselves that, while they have great influence over their children’s lives, they do not personally
create every aspect of their children’s being. Children are shaped
by an assortment of outside influences beyond the control of
parents. And an emotional illness they were likely suffering can
be attributed to “nature,” not “nurture” — imbalances of brain
chemistry that have undetermined biological causes.

Jeffrey Jackson, A Handbook for Coping with Suicide Grief, American Association of Suicidology

Related Reads on Guilt in Grief After Suicide Loss

---

What More Could I Have Done?

“Vastly Overestimating Our Role” of What We Did or Didn’t Do As Parents

“What’s Your Grief” is an informative blog about all things related to grief. The excerpt below is from the blog post, “Grieving After a Suicide Death” by Eleanor Haley.

It is not uncommon for themes of personal blame to arise, as the person questions their role in their loved one’s suicide and what they could have done to prevent their death. Unfortunately, the bereaved may vastly overestimate their role and others’ role[s] (i.e., what family and friends did or didn’t do).

Eleanor Haley, “Grieving After a Suicide Death,” What’s Your Grief?

What Did I Miss?

• I never really knew [them]
• [They] didn’t feel comfortable confiding in me.
• [They] were in intense pain.
• I’m to blame. I should have done more to prevent [their] death.
• They didn’t love me enough to live.

Eleanor Haley, Grieving After a Suicide Death,
Understanding Grief / What’s Your Grief?

The Harsh Truth of Hindsight

Understand that Hindsight is Always 20/20: The insight for parents who lose a child to suicide is always in hindsight. And hindsight is always 20/20.

Perfect parenting is an illusion.

We can’t be aware of everything our child is doing, thinking, feeling, or struggling with. We can’t be with our child every second, minute, and hour of every day.

---

Embrace Compassion

Reflecting on these truths can be painful, but it’s crucial to understand the limitations of our control and awareness as parents. Let us embrace compassion, for ourselves and for others who walk a similar path.

---

What Can You Do to Move Forward?

Open a Space for All You Did Give Your Child

. . .you can start by opening a space for all that you did give your son. You might want to make a list of things you did to try to help over the course of decades, even if you didn’t feel that they were helpful.

Lori Gottlieb, “Dear Therapist: I Blame Myself for My Son’s Death,” The Atlantic, September 7, 2020

I Blame Myself for My Son’s Death

Lori Gottlieb, in her compassionate article, “Dear Therapist: I Blame Myself for My Son’s Death,” writes about what parents can do to move forward:

So what can you do to move forward? Instead of imprisoning yourself in a cell of self-recrimination, you can start by opening a space for all that you did give your son. You might want to make a list of things you did to try to help over the course of decades, even if you didn’t feel that they were helpful.

In other words, make a list with no “but”s or caveats such as I could have used different words in that conversation or I could have put him in a different school or I could have chosen a different treatment provider or rehab or I could have flown to see him when he called and asked me to come that time I was working or what have you. I want you to have a record of your love.

Lori Gottlieb, “Dear Therapist: I Blame Myself for My Son’s Death,” The Atlantic, September 7, 2020

We could not have known everything then.
We do not know everything now.

A Bereaved Parent, My Forever Son

Unravel the “Complexity of Love” For Your Child

Parents of children who die by suicide often battle an added type of guilt. Even if they do not blame themselves for not directly intervening in the suicidal act, they often feel guilt over some perceived mistake in raising their children.

“Where did I go wrong?” “I pushed them too hard,” and “If we hadn’t gotten divorced…” are just a few on the list of self-recriminations.

Jeffrey Jackson, A Handbook for Coping with Suicide Grief, Tennessee, Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services

“A Deep, Ferocious, and Complicated Love”

Where to begin to unravel the complexity of my love for my son? Gottlieb explains it best: “A deep, ferocious, and complicated love for [my] son. And it’s in this love—more than in the blame—that your grief resides.” (Lori Gottlieb, “Dear Therapist: I Blame Myself for My Son’s Death,” The Atlantic, September 7, 2020).

So what do people do when they aren’t able to accept the complexity of their love for their child? Many direct their feelings of rage and despair away from taboo targets like the child, or the partner who suffers from depression, or other parents with happier kids, and toward the safest target of all—themselves. To alleviate their guilt, they punish themselves by turning themselves into emotional punching bags—the parental equivalent of Dobby the house elf in Harry Potter.

Lori Gottlieb, “Dear Therapist: I Blame Myself for My Son’s Death,” The Atlantic, September 7, 2020

Suicide Grief: Making Meaning Out of Loss

Suicide is not a desire to end your life; it’s a need to end your pain.

Jeffrey Jackson, A Handbook for Coping with Suicide Grief with Jeffrey Jackson | The AAS Make An Impact Podcast

Healing the Hole in Your Heart: The Overwhelming Grief of Suicide Loss

I am twelve years out from the death of my son. My life and grief are vastly different from the agony of acute grief I experienced in the beginning of my grief journey. I have not “moved on” so much as I have “moved forward” in my grief and healing.

My son travels with me, and along the way of these twelve years, I’ve become accustomed to carrying the weight of my grief. My love for my son and my ache for him have become a part of me.

---

Helpful Approaches to Hope and Healing: A Parent’s Guide

The Pain of Early Grief Has Become a Quiet Part of Who I Am

The pain of losing Dylan to suicide hasn’t gone away, but the piercing pain of early grief has become a quiet part of who I am.

The helpful strategies below for beginning the process of healing after losing a loved one to suicide come from the grief packet distributed by the Suicide Awareness Voices of Education (S.A.V.E.).

Throughout these past twelve years, I have used all of these strategies from the list below to survive the traumatic effects of losing my only child to suicide.

I didn’t have this list of strategies to work with during the course of my grief, but was aware my suicide grief negatively affected my emotional, physical, spiritual, and intellectual health.

I knew I needed support and guidance to survive the loss of my son.

Not all of these strategies will work for everyone, but this list of strategies for support and healing is an excellent starting point to begin navigating the difficult grief suicide leaves behind.

Strategies for Making Meaning Out of Loss: Beginning the Process of Healing

Coping with the loss of a loved one to suicide is an incredibly challenging and painful experience. Finding meaning and
healing in the aftermath of such a loss can be a complex and individual journey. Here are some strategies that may help
you make meaning out of a suicide loss and begin the process of healing:

1. Seek Professional Help: Consider working with a mental health professional, such as a therapist or counselor, who specializes in grief and loss. They can provide you with guidance and support tailored to your specific needs.
2. Connect with Support Groups: Joining a support group for survivors of suicide loss can be immensely beneficial. These groups offer a safe space to share experiences, emotions, and coping strategies with others who have gone through similar experiences.
3. Educate Yourself: Learning about suicide, mental health, and the factors that may have contributed to your loved one’s struggles can help you gain a better understanding of their experience and reduce stigma.
4. Remember Your Loved One: Create a meaningful way to remember and honor your loved one’s life. This
   could include setting up a memorial, planting a tree, or participating in an event or charity in their memory.
5. Express Your Emotions: Allow yourself to feel and express the range of emotions that accompany grief—sadness, anger, guilt, confusion, and more. It’s essential to acknowledge and process these feelings rather than bottling them up.
6. Write or Journal: Consider keeping a journal or writing letters to your loved one as a way to express your thoughts and feelings. This can be a therapeutic and private outlet for your emotions.
7. Practice Self-Care: Caring for your physical and emotional well-being is crucial during the grieving process. Ensure you eat well, get regular exercise, and get enough rest.
8. Find Meaning in Helping Others: Some people find meaning in their loss by using their experience to help others who may be struggling with mental health issues or who have experienced a similar loss.
9. Volunteering for a mental health organization or suicide prevention program can be a way to give back and
   find purpose.
10. Rituals and Traditions: Consider creating rituals or traditions that help you commemorate your loved one on special occasions, anniversaries, or holidays. These rituals can provide a sense of connection and continuity.
11. Accept That Healing Takes Time: Grief is a unique and non-linear process. It’s essential to be patient with yourself and allow time for healing. There is no set timeline for when you should feel better.
12. Seek Spiritual or Faith-Based Support: If you have faith or are part of a religious community, you may find solace and support through your faith and spiritual practices.
13. Healing from a suicide loss is a deeply personal journey, and there is no one-size-fits-all approach. Seek the support and resources that resonate with you. Making meaning out of such a loss can be a long and difficult process, but with time and support, it is possible to find ways to remember and honor your loved one while moving toward healing and acceptance.

Suicide Awareness Voices of Education (S.AV.E.), Grief Support Packet

---

Finding Healing in Releasing Guilt: A Guide for Parents

A Reminder that Our Children Are Shaped by Multiple Outside Influences

But parents need to remind themselves that, while they have great influence over their children’s lives, they do not personally create every aspect of their children’s being, as a sculptor carves a statue. From their earliest years, children are shaped by an assortment of outside influences beyond the control of parents. Even children and teenagers have to bear responsibility for their actions.

Jeffrey Jackson, A Handbook for Suicide Loss, Tennessee Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services

---

Resources and Support

Key Resources for Understanding Suicide

The articles below include key resources for understanding suicide and coping with grief. They offer compassionate guidance. Notably, the “Rain Comes to Heal Us All” Poem: Finding Hope After Loss, provides solace. Grief involves stigma, guilt, and various emotions from anger to relief.

Research indicates that suicide is not a conscious choice, necessitating a non-judgmental emotional healing approach. Support groups and educational materials empower survivors, fostering community connections.

The content includes the author’s story of losing her child, emotional support resources, insights on suicide, grief duration discussions, and resources for bereaved parents.

Healing After Suicide: Essential Books for Parents

Healing After Suicide: Essential Books for Parents is a comprehensive resource for parents grieving the loss of a child to suicide. The book offers a curated list of books, including practical guides, narratives, poetry, and novels, providing support and understanding for those navigating grief. The author, Beth Brown, shares her personal journey of loss and healing, emphasizing the importance of support groups and educational materials in the grieving process.

Understanding Suicide: It’s Not a Choice

Understanding Suicide: It’s Not a Choice explores the emotional complexities surrounding suicide, challenging the notion that it is a choice. Dr. John Ackerman highlights the myriad factors influencing suicidal thoughts, emphasizing that individuals often seek relief from overwhelming pain rather than wanting to end their lives. This piece encourages empathy and awareness, making it essential reading for those wanting to support loved ones in distress.

Healing After Losing a Child to Suicide: Support, Resources, and Self-Care for Bereaved Parents

Healing After Losing a Child to Suicide, Support, Resources, and Self-Care for Bereaved Parents offers a comprehensive list of resources and support for individuals grieving the loss of a loved one to suicide. It includes personal insights, professional perspectives, and a curated selection of books and support groups. The author, Beth Brown, shares her own experience of losing her son to suicide and emphasizes the importance of seeking help and understanding.

Surviving Suicide Grief: Does the Pain Ever End?

Surviving Suicide Grief: Does the Pain Ever End? offers a compassionate look at and attempts to response to one of the most profound challenges of longterm grief after suicide loss: Does the pain of losing a child to suicide is profound and never fully goes away, but it does change and become a part of one’s life. Finding support through counseling, support groups, and connecting with others who have experienced similar losses is crucial for healing. Grief is a journey with seasons that come and go, and it is possible to learn to live with the pain while honoring the love for the lost child.

To those of you that still feel you aren’t even sure you want to be here and you can’t imagine ever being happy again. The pain does change, it softens. You will want to live again and be able to enjoy life again. It will never be like before but the crushing, all consuming pain you feel right now will soften. You will be able to live with it. It just becomes part of you.

A parent who lost their child to suicide

---

Understanding the Pain of Suicide Loss: “When Someone is Too Bruised to Be Touched”

Understanding the Pain of Suicide Loss: “When Someone is Too Bruised to Be Touched” features Ronald Rolheiser’s writings on suicide which offer a compassionate and spiritual perspective, emphasizing that suicide is often a tragic consequence of mental illness, not a voluntary act. He encourages loved ones to release guilt and second-guessing, understanding that they are not responsible for the person’s death. Rolheiser also highlights the importance of remembering the deceased’s life beyond their suicide, trusting in God’s infinite love and understanding.

---

Understanding Suicide: Why the Pain Matters

Understanding Suicide: Why the Pain Matters explores the pain and grief surrounding suicide, emphasizing that it is not a conscious choice but a desperate attempt to escape unbearable suffering. The article highlights current research, personal stories, and compassionate support for those struggling with depression and mental health, aiming to break the stigma surrounding suicide. It provides resources and insights into the complexities of grief and the journey towards healing.

---

The Backstory to My Forever Son: A Mother’s Grief

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. 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.

The Story of My Forever Son

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.

—“Bury My Heart”

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

---

Professional Resources

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.

---

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.

---

---