suicide bereavement

But I Didn’t Say Goodbye -- Helping Families After a Suicide: Interview with Barbara Rubel | Episode 52

But I Didn’t Say Goodbye -- Helping Families After a Suicide: Interview with Barbara Rubel | Episode 52

“Grief is love not wanting to let go.”

When children are grieving a death by suicide, they need the caring adults around them to help them find their way through Wordon’s tasks of mourning:

Task #1: Accept the Reality of the Loss

Task #2: Process the Pain of the Grief

Task #3: Adjust to a World without the Deceased

Task #4: Move on to an Enduring Connection While Embarking on a New Life

In this podcast, I interview Barbara Rubel, author of But I Didn’t Say Goodbye: Helping Families After a Suicide. We walk through specific strategies families and other caring adults can use to support kids bereaved by suicide across many developmental ages.

Teens Bereaved by Suicide -- Moving Forward When You Feel Left Behind: Interview with Jason Holzer | Episode 47

Teens Bereaved by Suicide -- Moving Forward When You Feel Left Behind: Interview with Jason Holzer | Episode 47

When a teen loses a loved one to suicide, the intense reactions can be overwhelming, and sometimes the caring adults don’t know what to do to help. Teens who are already feeling the pressure of school and social expectations can be very challenged in navigating the complexity of suicide bereavement. In this interview, Jason shares his journey from surviving to thriving after losing his Dad to suicide when he was 17.

The Forgotten Mourners — Disenfranchised Grief of Siblings Bereaved by Suicide: Interview with Dr. Lena Heilmann | Episode 46

The Forgotten Mourners — Disenfranchised Grief of Siblings Bereaved by Suicide: Interview with Dr. Lena Heilmann | Episode 46

Author of “Still with Us: Voices of Sibling Suicide Loss,” Dr. Lena Heilmann joins me for our shared reflection on the experience of losing a brother or sister to suicide. We speak about how in this form of loss, siblings experience losing their past, present and future. Lena also suggests many strategies for coping with the grief and trauma of suicide loss.

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"Why Would God Do This?" -- Faith, Religion and Suicide: Interview with Dr. Melinda Moore | Episode 40

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"Why Would God Do This?" -- Faith, Religion and Suicide: Interview with Dr. Melinda Moore | Episode 40

Faith community leaders are often first responders after a suicide death. Sometimes, as in my family’s situation, faith leaders do an amazing job in supporting a highly traumatized and confused family through their grief journey and facilitate a memorial service that both honors the life that was lived without shying away from the tragedy of suicide. Other times families feel compounded shame and guilt and experience additional layers of loss because of how faith leaders address suicide. Faith beliefs are sometimes shattered in the aftermath of suicide, and anger at God is not uncommon….According to Dr. Melinda Moore, 85% of clergy know that helping people in a suicide crisis is part of their responsibility, but they don’t know what to do. In this interview with her, we explore some of the findings from a recently released guidelines from the National Action Alliance for Suicide Prevention called “Suicide Prevention Competencies for Faith Leaders: Supporting Life Before, During, and After a Suicidal Crisis.” We also discuss ways that faith communities can offer support through the National Weekend of Prayer and the resources offered through the “Faith-Hope-Life” campaign.

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A Journey from Suicide Bereavement to Action -- Peer Support and the Warrior Ethos: Interview with Master Sergeant Christopher D. Jachimiec | Episode 25

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A Journey from Suicide Bereavement to Action -- Peer Support and the Warrior Ethos: Interview with Master Sergeant Christopher D. Jachimiec | Episode 25

In this podcast, Master Sergeant Christopher D. Jachimiec shares the tragedy of losing his brother Adam to suicide. We explore our shared grief experiences as sibling survivors of suicide loss and the making meaning process. Out of catastrophe we have options — to get buried under, to gloss over or to go through. Chris found his higher purpose was “honoring the dash” — our lives are not about the start date or end date, but what happens in between.

During the interview, Chris shares so many resources (many listed below), key steps in the journey of healing, and lessons learned from Viktor Frankl.

The Unimaginable Grief -- Parents Bereaved by their Children’s Suicide: Interview with Dr. Sharon McDonnell | Episode 24

The Unimaginable Grief -- Parents Bereaved by their Children’s Suicide: Interview with Dr. Sharon McDonnell | Episode 24

When we talk about suicide bereavement, we often think about the grief part of the response, but sometimes we forget that the experience of losing a loved one to suicide is also traumatic. When a parent loses a child to suicide, the complications of traumatic grief are frequently unparalleled. For many, their core beliefs about the world and themselves are shattered and the pieces take a while to pull back together — like “someone pulled the pin on the grenade and threw it into the (emotional) center of the family.”

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Ashes in the Ocean -- Men and Suicide Grief: Interview with Sebastian Slovin | Episode 23

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Ashes in the Ocean -- Men and Suicide Grief: Interview with Sebastian Slovin | Episode 23

In this podcast I interview Sebastian Slovin, author of “Ashes in the Ocean: A Son’s Story of Living though and Learning from his Father’s suicide. We touch upon themes of survival, stigma and safe space and how we was able to grow up in the shadow of suicide and piece together a narrative and a life worth living. Sebastian shares to other men, “Not feeling does not work” in the grief healing journey. He talks openly and honestly about how peer and professional support — even spiritual connections — can make a big difference in letting men know they are not alone in their bereavement by suicide.