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

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

ABOUT THIS POST: Welcome to My Forever Son: Chronicling Grief, Hope, and Healing After Losing My Son to Suicide provides a heartfelt and personal account of the author’s experience with grief, hope, and healing after losing her son to suicide. The author, Beth Brown, focuses on why she started My Forever Son, and she welcomes you to follow this blog chronicling grief, hope, and healing.

Losing My Only Child to Suicide

On June 25, 2012, I lost my son to suicide. (See He Left Too Soon: A Poem About Losing a Child to Suicide.) A student at a prestigious Midwestern university, Dylan immersed himself in music, art, and digital design. His grades (which had been impeccable in high school) reflected the ongoing depression with which he had struggled since early childhood.

About Dylan

Dylan hid his sadness well—smiling and laughing with his family and friends, making silly faces and telling jokes to get others to laugh. Dylan thought deeply about things, and he cared deeply for his friends, oftentimes being there for others who were struggling while tucking away his own painful feelings.

Dylan is the reason why I started My Forever Son blog. This platform serves as an outlet for me to share my personal journey through grief, while offering hope and healing to others who have experienced the loss of a child to suicide. Through my writing, I continue to find solace and a path towards healing.

Find Hope Here: Poems of Love, Loss, and Losing a Child

One of the key elements of My Forever Son is a collection of poems that I have written about the experience of losing a child. Find Hope Here: Poems of Love, Loss, and Losing a Child is a compilation of heartfelt poems that delve into themes such as love, loss, grief, and the process of healing. I hope that these poems will resonate with those who have gone through similar experiences and provide them with a sense of comfort.

Who Am I?

I am Beth Brown, Dylan’s Mom. When I started writing this blog (April 7, 2015), I had already been grieving for two years and 9 months. During those two years, 9 months, I read and researched as much as I could find about grief, suicide, child loss, losing an only child, and depression and mental health. I also sought support from key resources and websites:

• American Foundation for Suicide Prevention
• National Alliance for Mental Health
• The Compassionate Friends
• Parents of Suicides
• American Association of Suicidology
• Alliance of Hope for Suicide Loss Survivors
• Books for Loss Survivors, American Foundation for Suicide Prevention
• Living With Suicide Loss, Watch the Videos, AFSP

I am also a writer and teacher well-versed in adolescent literacy and teaching freshman composition. “I read, I write, I live,” wrote William Styron. Yes. Writing this blog, My Forever Son, is my “I read, I write, I live” life.

Why Follow My Blog?

Because love lost by a child’s suicide hurts. Forever. Especially when it’s your child. Parents who have lost a child to suicide, suicide loss survivors, those who have lost a family member or friend to suicide, and those seeking to understand the effects of suicide on those left behind come to my blog. Read more: About My Forever Son

If you have experienced the heartbreak and devastation of losing a child to suicide, you will find resources, support, and hope here.

That we all might find peace,

Beth Brown

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