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.
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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 resources and information to help them cope with their loss. The directory also lists items for people who want to offer support and assistance to the suicide bereaved. New resources are added as they become […]
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 suicide. Many of these resources were developed by survivors of suicide loss.
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 Survivor Outreach Team Training Manual serves as a resource for how to develop and implement a survivor outreach team. The survivor outreach team is made up of of trained survivors who visit and provide support to families and loved ones […]
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 an increased risk of suicide for at least the next 25 years. People who lost a parent to suicide as a child had three times the suicide risk of those who had not […]
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 well as parents whose children died in motor vehicle collisions (MVC), are at greater risk for depression, anxiety, substance abuse, and marital breakup than other parents. The suicide-bereaved parents also showed significantly higher “mental and physical health […]