Suicide Loss Support: We've Got You

You are not alone.

Grief can feel very isolating, but you don't have to walk this journey alone. We've been down the road you're traveling, and we are here for you.

You will NOT always feel this much pain.

As time passes, the hurt you feel now will change. We know from experience that your emotional pain will subside and soften with time. It won't always feel like it does right now.

Most people who die by suicide do not want to die. They want their pain to end.

Whatever pain brought our loved ones to end their lives, it inhibited them from thinking clearly and from fully comprehending the heartbreak their suicides would cause.

Suicide is the "perfect storm" event.

Suicide is rarely the result of just one person, conversation, or event. It usually involves multiple, complex factors that culminate in a "perfect storm."

You can’t prevent what you can’t predict.

There was no way you could have known it would happen that very day, at that precise moment. You cannot control the thoughts and actions of others.

Eventually, the questions will cease to be so all encompassing.

"Why?" "What if?" Most of us who have experienced suicide loss wrestle with these and other questions for a long time. This is normal. It helps us to learn enough "to suffice," to process our thoughts so that we can eventually find peace.

What you tell yourself matters.

How you talk to yourself about what happened can shape the experience of your grief journey. Trust what you know about your loved one, and choose to tell yourself the story that best helps you heal.

Suicide is not a reflection of love.

People who die by suicide may have believed they were a burden to the people they loved. They thought that their families would be better off without them. Whereas we know this to be untrue, our loved ones could not see clearly through the fog of their emotional pain.

How you cope with this is up to you.

You didn't choose for this to happen to you, but you do get to decide how to respond to it. You have a say in how you heal.

Love never ends.

When your loved one died, the love you shared didn't just stop. Your relationship continues. Keep the memories alive in all that you do.