Surviving After a Suicide: A Day for Healing

(ARA) - Research shows that more than 60 percent of people in the United States will know someone who dies by suicide during the course of their lifetime and more than 20 percent will lose a family member. These startling statistics translate into hundreds of thousands of family members, friends, neighbors and co-workers -- “survivors” -- who will be left behind to cope with the loss.

In November, the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP) broadcast their National Survivors of Suicide Day program designed to help survivors sort through the troubling and powerful emotions they may be experiencing. The ninth annual program, which is broadcast simultaneously to more than 100 conference sites across the country and internationally, featured a panel discussion comprised of “veteran” survivors sharing their personal experiences. The program also featured mental health professionals who are experts in the field of suicide bereavement. In addition to the broadcast program, each conference site offered further programming for survivors.

The AFSP program was also broadcast via streaming video on the Foundation’s Web site at www.afsp.org, with an online chat immediately following the program offering an additional forum for survivors. The online broadcast ensures that survivors can participate even if there is not a local conference site in their area or if they find it difficult to participate in person. For those not able to participate at a conference or online, the entire 90-minute program is archived on the AFSP Web site for a full year after the event, where it can be viewed free of charge at anytime.

“Having lost my brother Stephen to suicide in 1993, I know first hand the pain and grief many survivors experience,” says Joanne Harpel, director of survivor initiatives at AFSP. “The National Survivors of Suicide Day and the other programs AFSP provides can help comfort, guide and empower survivors.”

According to Harpel, more than 32,000 people in the United States die by suicide each year. More than 90 percent have an underlying, although not always diagnosed, psychiatric illness at the time of their death. Despite this, survivors often feel the suicide of their loved one is somehow shameful or that they or their family are somehow to blame. Questions of ”Why” and ”What could I have done” can further the feelings of guilt and anger.

Also complicating grief are the stigma and misconceptions that plague suicide. Whether real or perceived, this stigma can leave many survivors feeling shunned by friends, the community or even family members. Stigma may also prevent survivors from discussing the death or lead them to keep the cause of death a secret and develop alternate explanations. This can leave survivors feeling alone, abandoned or afraid to reach out for help.

“Because suicide is often so misunderstood, it can be very beneficial for survivors to connect with others who have gone through a similar loss; too often survivors suffer alone,” says Edward Dunne, survivor and author of “Suicide and its Aftermath: Understanding and Counseling the Survivors.” Dunne is also chair of AFSP’s national survivor council.

National Survivors of Suicide Day was created in 1999 and is always held on the Saturday before Thanksgiving. Visit www.afsp.org for more information about AFSP’s National Survivors of Suicide Day program and to watch the program online.

Courtesy of ARAcontent