Surviving After a Suicide Loss
A suicide loss support group in Naples, Florida
We have all heard the instructions of an airline attendant reminding us to put on our own oxygen mask before we help anyone else with theirs. The advice is often cited as a metaphor for self-care because it so accurately expresses why it is important. It seems to say, ironically, that if you can’t take… Continue reading Self-Care Makes us Stronger
From The Mighty: Losing the will to live is not always standing on a ledge. It’s not always being in crisis mode (for me anyway). It’s a dull ache in my chest that weighs me down constantly. I might laugh or appear normal, but that ache to disappear is there, underneath. Click below to read more.… Continue reading What it Feels Like to Lose the Will to Live
At the expense of dating myself, there is a children's toy played with back in the day called “A Viewmaster.” You would place a round disc of small pictures on it into this plastic viewer, click a lever to advance the pictures around as you would view them. The Stop Technique will have you select one picture… Continue reading The Stop Technique
Guilt is the one negative emotion that seems to be universal to all survivors of suicide, and overcoming it is perhaps our greatest obstacle on the path to healing. Guilt is your worst enemy because it is a false accusation. You are not responsible for your loved one’s suicide in any way, shape, or form.… Continue reading Survivor’s Guilt
Becoming Real in the Aftermath of SuicideJuly 20, 2020 Author: Heidi Botterill for Alliance of HopeWe all know this to be a truly cruddy experience and journey. Really, it is just horrendous. There is no escaping the pain of it, the gut-punching realness of it, the self-humbling awareness that it brings. In the very dark… Continue reading Why does it still hurt so much?
Surviving through Writing by George Ochoa I am a writer, and so was my only child, Martha Corey-Ochoa, until she killed herself. It was the family business. My wife and I worked at home as freelance writers for most of Martha’s life. As soon as Martha learned to write, she began working alongside us in… Continue reading Surviving through Writing — Guest Post by George Ochoa
how to help if you think someone might be suicidal.
The Gift of Someone Who Listens By Nancy Myerholts: From Compassionate Friends, Cape Cod
In our survivor group, we hand out a support packet that includes a sheet with simplistic faces expressing emotions. In my second year as a suicide loss survivor, I shared with the group that the emotion I felt most often was not on the sheet--I felt indifferent and stuck in that emotion. A fellow survivor… Continue reading Getting Unstuck by Naming Your Emotions
We often hear the phrase we must do the work to move forward in our grief journey. But what exactly is the work? While everyone grieves in their own unique way, Psychologist J. William Worden provides a framework of four tasks that help us understand how people move through grief in a healthy way.