Online Resources and Local Support Groups


Survivors of Suicide Loss Support Group - Madison, NJ

"Just as with physical cancer, the person dying of suicide is taken out of this life against his or her will.

Death by suicide is the emotional equivalent of cancer, a stroke, or a heart attack. ...

Death can happen suddenly or it can be the end-product of a long struggle that slowly wears a person down.

Either way, it’s involuntary." ~ Fr. Ron Rolheiser, OMI

Suicide Support Websites

  • There are numerous sites online for suicide support. These sites contain information about suicide prevention, grief and healing after a suicide, activities and locations of local support groups. Click here for a collection of some of the more useful online suicide support sites.

Grief Support Websites

  • There are many online sites that specifically deal with grief. Several of these groups focus on specific types of grief such as suicide grief, grief in children. Many of them have online foruns where you can discuss your grief and your journey of healing with others who have also suffered the loss of a loved one. Click here for a collection of some of the more useful online grief support sites.

Local Grief Support Groups:

  • The Survivors of Suicide Loss support group in Madison provides a safe environment to discuss the issues you face when dealing with the suicide of a loved one. Often people also seek additional specialized Grief support groups to help them heal from their loss. There are many Grief and Bereavement groups and professional counseling centers in New Jersey. Click here for a list of local grief support groups.

Finding Clinical Support:

  • Often the loss of a loved one to suicide is an overwhelming emotional experience. It is common for many survivors to seek professional treatment from a physician or other licensed clinical professional such as a psychiatrist or psychologist. Here are some ways to help to find a professional that is right for you. For more information about finding professional support Click Here.

Facebook / Social Media

  • There are many Facebook and other social media support groups available for you to learn more about suicide and there are are numerous support groups for survivors. Click here for more information

Videos

  • Click Here for a collection of videos for Survivors of suicide. The videos help you understand suicide and how survivors regain control of their lives after the suicide of a loved one. They range from survivors telling their journey of healing, to professionals discussing the grief process and the causes and challenges of suicide.

Faith Based Support Groups

  • For help finding faith based support groups in the area click here. Often Churches, Synagogues or Spiritual Leaders have local programs to help deal with the grief and bereavement associated with the death of a loved one.

Help for Professionals Dealing With Suicide

  • Often many professionals are called on to provide assistance to help provide support after a suicide loss. Clergy, Religious Leaders, Funeral Directors, Schools, Teachers, Law Enforcement Officers, Fire Department, Emergency Medical Service and other clinical professionals all play a role in helping the bereavement process for those suffering from a suicide loss. For more information about how professionals can provide assistance and also learn more about suicide please click here.

Other Online Information:

Where to Begin

How To Help A Survivor of Suicide

Witnessing or Discovering a Suicide

Dealing with Guilt and Shame

Dealing With Suicide Notes

How to Talk About a Suicide Loss

Suicide Grief

  • Exploring the Uniqueness of Your Suicide Grief
    • Resource: Article
    • Summary: Exploring 10 reasons why suicide grief is different from ordinary grief by Alan D. Wolfelt, Ph.D.
  • Grief After Suicide
    • Resource: 12 page PDF
    • Summary: Your grief after a suicide may feel quite different than the grief you have felt after other kinds of losses. Usually the death of someone from suicide has a much more intense and long lasting impact. When someone you know dies from suicide you struggle with complex social, emotional and cultural issues that can make your grief overwhelming and isolating.
  • Understanding Grief
    • Resource: 26 page PDF
    • Summary: Hospice Foundation for America training presentation about grief after the death of a loved one.
  • Dispelling the Misconceptions About Suicide and Grief and Mourning
    • Resource: Webpage
    • Summary: A discussion about the 17 misconceptions many people have. As you journey through the wilderness of your suicide grief, if you mourn openly and authentically, you will come to find a path that feels right for you. That is your path to healing. But beware others may try to pull you off this path. They may try to make you believe that the path you have chosen is wrong even crazy and that their way is better. The reason that people try to pull you from the path is that they have internalized some common misconceptions about suicide grief and mourning. And the misconceptions, in essence, deny you your right to hurt and authentically express your grief. They often cause unrealistic expectations about the grief experience. To integrate this loss into your soul, you must first be willing to unlearn the following misconceptions about suicide and grief and mourning.
  • Grief After Suicide
  • Grief After Suicide Blog
    • Resource: Blog
    • Summary:
  • Healing From Suicide Grief
    • Resource: Blog
    • Summary:
  • Coping with Grief After a Suicide Death
    • Resource: 44 page PDF
    • Summary: This booklet is designed as a simple response to distress signals that you are likely to direct to family members, friends, your social support network, and others. Some people who care about you may have enough compassion, knowledge and sensitivity to meet your needs; others may ‘mean well’, and succeed in saying and doing all the wrong things.
  • The Journey Through Grief: The Mourner's Six "Reconciliation Needs"
    • Resource: 4 page PDF
    • Summary: There are six "yield signs" you are likely to encounter on your journey through grief-what I call the "reconciliation needs of mourning." For while your grief journey will be an intensely personal, unique experience, all mourners must yield to this set of basic human needs if they are to heal.
  • Are You a Grief Victim or a Grief Survivor?
    • Resource: 1 page PDF
    • Summary: A short series of questions to help you become a survivor and not be a victim.

Dealing with Suicide and Grief in the Workplace

Grief Support for Specific Relationships

Complicated Grief and PTSD

Helping Children and Teens

Dealing with Anniversaries, Holidays and Moving On

Religion and Suicide

  • Religious and Cultural Views of Suicide
    • Resource: Website
    • Summary: Religious and cultural views of suicide can have a profound effect on the suicide bereaved. Read here what various religious and cultural groups believe about suicide and how that has continued to change over the years
  • Coping with a Suicide Catholic Teaching and Pastoral Response
    • Resource: 29 page PDF
    • Summary: Although not a comprehensive source on suicide, this booklet attempts to help survivors, and those who are concerned about them, with some of the questions and doubts that commonly arise in the attempt to come to terms with bereavement by suicide.
  • Suicide By Rabbi Kassel Abelson
    • Resource: 11 page PDF
    • Summary: An enlightened Rabbinical discussion of Suicide and the Jewish faith. " Suicide, “taking one’s own life”, is forbidden by Jewish law, for only God who has given life may take it. Though the early Halakhah denied the suicide the usual burial and mourning rites, the trend of Halakhic development was to find a reason to treat the ritual for a suicide like the ritual for any other death. For the sake of the survivors the mourning ritual involving the family may be performed. The “suicide” of a katan (child) is always considered evidence of less mental capacity, and full rites are permitted. A history of mental illness is prima facie evidence, that the taking of one’s life was due to diminished mental capacity. In fact any reason is deemed sufficient to decide that a suicide is without full and complete mental capacity, or the result of temporary insanity. A suicide is to be treated like any other death, with the right of burial in the cemetery, and the same ritual of mourning.
  • The Healing Power of Saying Kaddish for a Suicide
    • Resource: 11 page PDF
    • Summary: This article will provide an overview of Jewish law on mourning a suicide while exploring in more depth the issues involved with saying Kaddish for someone who has taken his or her own life.
  • A Faith Based Perspective on Suicide

Traumatic Brain Injuries and Suicide

Dealing With The Authorities After A Suicide Death

Suicide Facts and Statistics

Newsletters From Other Support Groups and Sites

All Other Links