Training aims at dealing with the loss of suicide
July 18, 2014
A national postvention program – Local Outreach to Suicide Survivors (LOSS) – has been expanding in Ohio. The program trains teams of volunteers to attend the scene of a suicide, where they provide immediate support to family and friends. Twenty-seven teams are already operating, mainly in rural parts of the state, and now a new chapter is starting up in the Columbus area, funded by the Ohio Suicide Prevention Foundation and a local mental health clinic. Teams only visit where they are welcome, and do not arrive with a set agenda. They are prepared to listen, find small ways to help, and share resources. This can be important as it sometimes takes years after a suicide before families seek out support groups and other mental health assistance on their own. Some volunteers are able to show by their presence that it is possible to survive the loss of a loved one to suicide. “I don’t have to have the right words,” said Denise Meine-Graham, volunteer coordinator for the new team and herself a suicide loss survivor, “because there are no right words.”
Spark Extra! Explore SPRC’s postvention resources, including material on supporting survivors of suicide loss.