Survivors of Suicide Loss
Losing a loved one to suicide is a traumatic experience. Individuals who have lost a loved one to suicide can experience a form of grieving that is especially intense. This experience can be further exacerbated by societal stigma around suicide. Strategies for supporting this group can include conducting outreach at the scene of a suicide, ensuring access to behavioral health services, and educating the media on responsible ways to report about suicide.
Learn More
- See the Recommended Resources below selected by SPRC personnel.
- See Safe and Effective Messaging and Reporting for information on how to educate the media about responsible reporting.
- To learn more about how to respond to a suicide, see our Postvention page.
- See All Resources Related to Survivors of Suicide Loss (below) for a full list of materials, programs, trainings, and other information available from SPRC. Use the filters on the left to narrow your results.
- For more on other groups and settings, see our Populations and Settings pages.
Recommended Resources
After a suicide resource directory: Coping with grief, trauma, and distress
“After a Suicide” is a portal linking people who are grieving after a death by suicide to an online directory of...
Suicide prevention resources for survivors of suicide loss
This sheet lists a selection of organizations, websites, and materials that can help people who have lost someone to sui...
Pathways to Purpose and Hope
This guide offers information on how to create a sustainable program for survivors of suicide loss....
Survivor Outreach Team Training Manual
Developed by the Kern County (CA) Mental Health Department (now Kern Behavioral Health and Recovery Services), The ...
Parental Death and Suicide
A large study in Denmark, Sweden, and Finland found that people who experienced the death of a parent before age 18 had ...
Parents of Children Who Die by Suicide
A large-scale study in Manitoba revealed that parents whose offspring (adult and minor children) died by suicide, as wel...