Every type of grief has the potential to cause intense and complex feelings, but research shows that people bereaved by suicide can have a particularly complex set of feelings and can experience additional struggles and dilemmas in trying to resolve their grief.
When someone dies by suicide your whole world is turned upside down.
If you need immediate support, please contact Survivors of Bereavement by Suicide (SOBS). They have group, phone, email and online support. They help individuals support each other, at the time of their loss and in the months and years that follow.
Everyone grieves differently and there is no correct response to how you will cope following a suicide. You may feel low and unable to cope. You might find it very difficult to sleep, eat or feel motivated to do anything. You may even have suicidal thoughts yourself. If you do, it important that you speak to someone about it.
Shock and disbelief are often the immediate responses to suicide. The emotions that you experience can be powerful, frightening and overwhelming. You may feel that the person’s death has come out of the blue with no warning. Even in cases where someone has previously told you that they were feeling depressed, or had made suicide attempts before, their death may still come as a shock. In other cases, people may feel that they had ‘seen it coming’ but been powerless to prevent it. You might have had a loved one go missing and known in your heart that they would not be coming back. The manner of death may be particularly hard for you to accept. Whatever the circumstances, finding out about a suicide is a deeply painful experience.
The Support After Suicide Partnership brings together suicide bereavement organisations and people with lived experience, to achieve a vision that everyone bereaved or affected by suicide is offered timely and appropriate support.
Help is at Hand - A resource for people bereaved through suicide or other unexplained death, and for those helping them. A great resource covering emotions you may feel; practical advice (Police, Coroner, How to let people know); supporting family members; facing the future.
After A Suicide - a booklet to help you with the practical issues that need to be faced after a suicide. It also discusses some of the emotions you might be experiencing and suggests some places where you can get help.