Suicide grief support is an emerging field of practice poised to gain strength from newer understandings of bereavement adaptation in thanatology [the study of death and bereavement].

... opens the door to asking not only "What makes grief after suicide different?" but also "How does the distinctive nature of suicide itself affect the bereavement experience of survivors?"

There has been a two-week hiatus in posts on Grief after Suicide because I am on the road, having driven from my home in Watertown, Mass., to Colorado Springs, Colo., for last weekend's TAPS National Military Suicide Survivor Seminar. This is the second year I have attended the TAPS (Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors) event as a trainer of peer helpers on suicide bereavement support group facilitation. I've used the opportunity to refine a facilitation model of my own creation,* called "Peer Sharing Circles."

The film is basically 90 minutes of five survivors sitting in a circle talking, and even though this approach gives it a homemade feel, the impact of what these survivors say collectively and individually is powerful. The participants, Erika, Andrea, Larry, and Chris, and the facilitator, Penny, demonstrate how enlightening and inspiring -- and hopeful -- it can be when survivors get together and speak from the heart.

I am keeping my recommendation brief because the film speaks for itself, but I do want to say one thing about it that is truly exceptional: Although all of the survivors share their story in a very courageous and helpful way, the one man in the circle, Larry, provides an extraordinary counterpoint to the stereotype that bereaved men are "unable to talk about it" or "unable to express their emotions." I mention this not to compare his story to any of the others (which are all superb) but rather to emphasize in my recommendation that viewing this film would be especially helpful to any man bereaved by suicide.

*Knapp, P. (2012). Survivors of suicide loss: Resource DVD. London, Ontario, Canada: MIKO Productions. Available for purchase here (for a donation plus shipping costs).

Every day, three to four people contact ... TAPS for the very first time seeking help and support in coping with the death by suicide of a loved one who served in our Armed Forces. They join the more than 4,000 people grieving a death by suicide who are already part of our community of care and support at TAPS.

We have found that people find healing and comfort in peer support and connecting with others who experience a similar loss.

The Smallwood brothers, Chuck and William, lost their dad to liver disease in 2011. Chuck keeps his hair long. William keeps his short. Both think it is important that people know their father's liver disease was genetic, not because of drinking.

Andrew Kraus lost his father and still doesn't like to hear his name called out over the school intercom because that's how he was summoned to the office in January 2012. His mother was there and the news was bad.

Zach Deck's mother, Jaimie, died in 2010 when she was 32. She died suddenly, at home, after a blood clot broke loose and entered her lungs. Zach woke that night to the sound of a panicked call from his stepfather to 911. He still cringes each time he hears a siren.

Faherty's moving story is accompanied by brief and poignant videos (less than a minute long) from each of the boys, which give voice to a profound truth each has found in his grief. Phillip is also interviewed in a longer video, in which he says,

"I looked at death as a greater thing. It comes and goes as it pleases, and there's no stopping that ... If death comes ... it's for a reason. You leave for an ultimate goal. You don't know what it is, and you question why. You kind of learn to accept it, I guess."

Work group chairperson Doreen Marshall of Argosy University facilitated the presentation in Austin on Saturday, and she was joined by me and fellow work group member Susan Beaton of Australia's Beyond Blue.* According to Marshall, the work group intended for the principles ...

... to be less prescriptive, easy to implement, and require few resources ... We felt it was ... important to develop guiding principles by which survivors could ... evaluate the groups they were leading and attending in addition to providing some guidance toward best practices.

... further research ... to determine types and modalities of suicide bereavement support related to better client outcomes, ... a national community of practice for SBSG facilitators, ... [and] funding ... for ongoing evaluation.

Expert information about grief after suicide -- plus links to nearly a hundred of the top resources for survivors of suicide loss and those who care for them -- are available from the Suicide Grief Support Quick Reference. The free online tool features content that is up-to-date and dependable, including:

Grief after Suicide: Understanding the Consequences and Caring for the Survivors, edited by John R. Jordan and John L. McIntosh, is a groundbreaking book featuring in-depth coverage of every aspect of suicide grief support. The book's goals, according to its editors,

are to establish not only what is known about suicide survivors and postvention efforts to assist them, but also to draw attention to vital information that is not known but would help us to better understand and assist survivors of suicide ... [including] recommendations for future research and postvention goals for the future.

The editors and more than 40 contributors to the book's chapters solidly accomplish those goals, covering in-depth and comprehensively the most up-to-date information about an impressive range of topics of interest to people working with the suicide bereaved. The editors begin by asking and attempting to answer several fundamental questions: