Suicide

Reading Materials

SOS: A Handbook for Survivors of Suicide. A longer resource provided by the American Association of Suicidology providing a comprehensive overview of the experience + suggestions after losing a loved one to suicide. Available here: SOS: A Handbook for Survivors (suicidology.org)

Toolkit: Resources for Survivors of Suicide. A short resource provided by the American Association of Suicidology, providing information for those that have survived a loss of a loved one to suicide. Available here: Toolkit: Resources for Survivors of Suicide (suicidology.org)

Healing Your Traumatized Heart: 100 Practical Ideas After Someone You Love Dies a Sudden, Violent Death , by Alan Wolfelt, Ph.D.

Helping a Suicide Survivor Heal, (brochure) – available through the BC Bereavement Helpline. Please click here.

The Wilderness of Suicide Grief: Finding Your Way, by Alan D. Wolfelt, Ph.D.

Night Falls Fast: Understanding Suicide, by Kay Redfield Jamison

[In Spanish Only] Superando El Duelo Despues De Un Suicidio – Las Experiencias de los que se Quedan, by Jessica Wolf Ortiz

Books for grieving a suicide – this website has more suggestions.

Most of the links from the book titles above will lead you to Amazon.com, where you can learn more about the book, read reviews about it, and order it if you’d like.

Video: Supporting those Bereaved by Suicide (Lifeline Australia)

Grieving A Loss to Suicide: This webiste helps navigate different ways of grieving and highlights common symptoms of suicide bereavement.

Talking to Children About a Suicide – a guide designed to help parents, guardians, and caregivers of children under 12 learn how to speak with them when a suicide occurs in their family or community, developed by the Mental Health Commission of Canada, in consultation with experts and other stakeholders.

Online Resources

After a Suicide Toolkit for Schools
Hope, Help and Healing – First Nations Health Authority
Hope and Healing: Practical Guide for Survivors of Suicide
Safe Language & Messages for Suicide Prevention
Suicide Grief & Coping with Loss (Canadian Association of Suicide Prevention)
Healing Your Spirit Surviving After the Suicide of a Loved One
Children, Teens and Suicide Loss

When Someone Has Died by Suicide – This online resource has been designed to help you understand and care for yourself as you grieve. It was developed by the Canadian Virtual Hospice in collaboration with national grief specialists and people who have grieved a death by suicide.

Please click here to learn more about the BC Bereavement Helpline’s Suicide Grief Support Group.