Written by Jack Jordan, Ph.D., and Bob Baugher, After Suicide Loss: Coping with Your Grief is now in its second edition. With the publication of the second edition of this highly regarded text, the book increased in length to about three times its original size. After Suicide: Coping with Grief has become one of the most frequently recommended books when it comes to aiding people to deal with bereavement following the death of a loved one by suicide. This book can assist you in the aftermath of the suicide of a loved one in a number of different ways.

Leading the Way in Suicide Postvention

Experts in the realm of issues surrounding suicide have been ardent in developing strategies for suicide prevention during the course of the past 20 years. With that said, only a minimal amount has been done in what commonly is called suicide postvention. Suicide postvention is establishing resources and preparing strategies for survivors of suicide loss.

The National Alliance for Suicide Prevention is now charged with the task of overseeing a comprehensive plan for suicide postvention. After Suicide: Coping with Grief, a guidebook on dealing with grieving after suicide and healthy bereavement, is considered to be a major element of suicide postvention resources in this day and age. The reason is that when it comes to suicide postvention, this book recognizes that emotions experienced by survivors of suicide loss are quite similar; however, these emotions are addressed and dealt with in entirely different ways from one person to another.

Step by Step Guidebook to Grief and Bereavement Following a Loved One’s Suicide

The guidebook offers strategies and tips to aid a person in moving forward in a healthy manner through the first year following the suicide of a loved one and beyond. The process begins with recognizing that you are not to blame for the loss of a loved one to suicide. A common issue confronting a survivor of suicide loss is a sense of guilt that a person in your position contributed to or could have prevented the suicide of a loved one.

On a related note, the book aids a person in addressing the shame that many times is associated with being a survivor of suicide loss. According to the book, shame is something of a darkness that hangs over the lives of many survivors of suicide loss.

As a comprehensive guidebook, After Suicide: Coping with Grief addresses dealing with other emotions associated with the post-suicide grief and bereavement process, including:

  • Depression
  • Anxiety
  • PTSD

The book understands that no two people face the same bereavement process when it comes to suicide survivor loss. Thus, you may end up facing a more extended period of time healing from a suicide loss, including getting beyond some of the emotions that arise following a loved one taking his or her own life.

Family Resources After Suicide

More often than not, a person who commits suicide leaves an entire family behind. The authors of this book understood that reality when they created After Suicide: Coping with Grief.

After Suicide: Coping with Grief is designed to be a resource for an entire family coming to terms with the suicide of one of their members. Not only does the text provide insights and strategies for individuals grieving a suicide loss, After Suicide: Coping with Grief also has strategies that can be jointly utilized by a family struggling to get beyond this type of loss in a healthy manner. More than a few families have called this book their primary go-to resource in addressing the bereavement process after a loved one has taken his or her own life.

This is another area in which the guidebook emphasizes that you cannot compare your own progress through the bereavement process with anyone else, including members of your own family.

About the Primary Author

Jack Jordan is the primary author of After Suicide: Coping with Grief. He has been a professional clinician most of his professional life. Over the past 25 years, Jordan’s primary focus has been assisting clients as a grief counselor. He works with individuals and families alike when it comes to addressing issues related to the bereavement process.

After Suicide: Coping with Grief is one of a number of books Jordan has written on the subject of grief, including Grief After Suicide: Understanding the Consequences and Caring for the Survivors, Devastating Losses: How Parents Cope with the Death of a Child to Suicide or Drugs, and The Clinician’s Guide to Foundations and Applications.

Summary

A primary thrust of this book is that many survivors of suicide experience the same emotions following a suicide, which have been detailed here for you. However, every individual processes and deal with these emotions differently. You will heal from the suicide of a loved one differently than others impacted by that individual’s death.