Hope In The Aftermath Of Suicide

This book offers simple, easy-to-read suggestions for surviving in the immediate aftermath of suicide. When people die by suicide, confusion, misunderstanding, conflicting emotions, and undeserved shame can paralyze those who loved them. But healing is possible. Start here. When these survivors learn they are not alone, they can begin to take one moment at a time, to breathe, to take care of themselves, and to heal. This book offers small bits of information that move readers forward a little at a time...toward a new life of healing and hope. Friends who want to help and even professionals who work with survivors can use this book to gain insight into what it really means for suicide to destroy lives and what it takes to help someone begin again. The journey is long, but healing is possible. Hope in the Aftermath of Suicide provides good first steps in finding a unique path through this kind of complicated grief.

When people die by suicide, they leave behind family and friends who suddenly find themselves mourning the person's loss and wondering what happened. This guide addresses many personal issues related to a death by suicide, including telling others, working through the grief, finding what helps people to heal, and grieving in children and youth. This Ontario guide also outlines practical things that need taking care of, such as arranging a funeral and dealing with the deceased's personal, legal and financial matters. A resource section lists organizations, websites and books that may help.

A 2003 Finalist in the United Kingdom Christian Book Awards "Albert," the neighbor said, "your mom needs you to come home." That's how it began for Albert Hsu when his father died. Anyone who has lost a loved one to suicide experiences tremendous shock and trauma. What follows is a confusing mix of emotions—anger, guilt, grief, and despair. Suicide raises heartrending questions: Why did this happen? Why didn't we see it coming? Could we have done anything to prevent it? How can we go on? Many also wonder if those who choose suicide are doomed to an eternity separated from God and their loved ones. Some may even start asking whether life is worth living at all. After his father's death, Hsu wrestled with the intense emotional and theological questions surrounding suicide. While acknowledging that there are no easy answers, he draws on the resources of the Christian faith to point suicide survivors to the God who offers comfort in our grief and hope for the future. For those who have lost a loved one to suicide and for their counselors and pastors, this book is an essential companion for the journey toward healing. This revised edition incorporates updated statistics and now includes a discussion guide for suicide survivor groups.

For anyone who has experienced the suicide of a loved one, coworker, neighbor, or acquaintance and is seeking information about coping with such a profound loss, this compassionate guide explores the unique responses inherent to their grief. Using the metaphor of the wilderness, the book introduces 10 touchstones to assist the survivor in this naturally complicated and particularly painful journey. The touchstones include opening to the presence of loss, embracing the uniqueness of grief, understanding the six needs of mourning, reaching out for help, and seeking reconciliation over resolution. Learning to identify and rely on each of these touchstones will bring about hope and healing.

Losing someone you love feels like you are adrift at sea – lost and alone. You are overcome by sorrow and heartache and unsure of how to continue life without them. Gary Sturgis writes with deep insight about the journey of love and loss and how to chart a course to healing. Through his work facilitating support groups and conducting workshops, he shares what he has learned on a personal level in an honest and heart-felt way. He offers advice and encouragement to those of us grieving the loss of a loved one. Gary takes us through the physical and emotional effects of grief, helping us to navigate its difficult aspects while teaching us to recover during the process. He offers a comforting hand to help us steer through the rough waters he has experienced since his loss. By sharing his own reflections and those of people he has encountered along the way, he puts the issues of life and death in perspective and ultimately gives us courage to move forward. Although we may never totally accept our loss or recover from our grief, Gary helps us find hope in the aftermath.

The unthinkable has happened. Painful. Crushing. Traumatic. Confusing. Complicated. No chance to say goodbye. No final embrace, kiss, or touch. No opportunity to clear the air, ask and give forgiveness, or make amends. A life gone. The tsunami has come, and now you're left standing amid the aftermath. What do you do? Reach out and grab the hand of multiple award-winning author and grief counselor Gary Roe. Let him walk with you through this uncharted, forbidding territory. You need a companion who can be a source of comfort, perspective, hope, and healing. Let Gary journey with you through the aftermath and help you pick up the pieces and begin to rebuild your heart and life. Aftermath was written to... Connect with your heart in all the pain, grief, and confusion. Be a companion for you in this unwanted, heart-crushing process that has been thrust upon you. Be a source of comfort, perspective, healing, and peace. Provide practical tools to help you pick up the pieces and begin to rebuild your heart and life. In Aftermath, you can discover how to... Be kind to yourself and patient with yourself during this incredibly hard time. Manage the racing thoughts and volatile emotions that come. Deal with other people and the unhelpful words and weird reactions that come your way. Navigate the tough spiritual issues and faith questions that confront your soul. Grieve in healthy ways that honor the one you lost, take your own heart seriously, and express kindness and compassion to those around you. Abandon the notion of quick fixes, self-medicating relief, and the lying voice of addiction as a way out. Latch onto the truth that no one is beyond repair and that anyone can heal - including you. Use your grief as fuel for good and make this death count by living with more purpose and meaning than ever before. Save lives and become part of the solution to this raging suicide epidemic. You didn't choose this road. You woke up on day and found you were on it. You're left standing in amid the aftermath. But you are not alone. Far from it. Let Aftermath become a understanding companion for you in the days ahead.

Whether you are struggling with fresh grief at a loved one’s death by suicide or your loss happened years ago, you should know that you are not alone. 5 million Americans are affected—directly or indirectly—by this tragedy each year. And it sends us on a lifelong search for answers, both to the practical questions and the deepest question of all: Why? In this definitive guide book, Michael F. Myers, MD, a leading psychiatrist, and Carla Fine, author of the acclaimed No Time to Say Goodbye: Surviving the Suicide of a Loved One, combine their perspectives as a physician and a survivor to offer compassionate and practical advice to anyone affected by suicide.

This constructive guide offers much-needed information and clinically-tested advice for those struggling to cope in the aftermath of a suicide. Written in clear language, this book presents the facts and demonstrates how to deal with feelings of guilt, anger, bewilderment, and shame. Also included is an anniversary memorial service that enables family members to recommit themselves to life.