The suicide of a loved one can have a profound and sometimes devastating impact on those left behind, called suicide survivors. Bereavement after suicide may entail high levels of disorientation, guilt, regret, anger, shame, and trauma. Survivors sometimes also find their relationships with other people changed, as they struggle with the social stigma often placed on suicide, and the altered family relationships that have been changed by the feelings of guilt, blame, and failure that suicide may engender. Survivors may also be at risk for elevated rates of complicated grief and future suicidality themselves. All of this makes surviving the suicide of a loved one a potentially life-transforming ordeal that requires a level of support that goes beyond traditional grief counseling. Yet very few mental health training programs devote any time to training clinicians about the challenging work of suicide postvention – helping survivors cope with the tragic loss.

This workshop will provide a focused overview of the impact of suicide on survivors, and the clinical and support responses that are needed after a suicide occurs. The workshop will include didactic presentation, group discussion, case examples from the presenter’s practice, and video clips from grief therapy sessions. Topics to be covered will include:

• The psychological impact of suicide on survivors and common themes in the bereavement of survivors
• The impact of suicide on family functioning
• What research with survivors tells us is needed
• The tasks of loss integration and recovery for survivors
• Postvention options for survivors
• Principles of postvention after client suicide
• Principles of longer term clinical work with survivors
• Examples of specific clinical techniques that can be of use in grief therapy with survivors

Who should attend:

mental health professionals, counselors, clergy, or social services providers, educators

Objectives: At the end of this workshop, participants will be able to: 

John (Jack) Jordan, Ph.D., FT  is a licensed psychologist in private practice in Wellesley, MA, and Pawtucket, RI, where he specializes in working with loss and bereavement. He was also the Founder and the Director until 2007 of the Family Loss Project, a research and clinical practice providing services for bereaved families. He has specialized in work with survivors of suicide and other losses for more than 35 years. As a Fellow in Thanatology from the Association for Death Education and Counseling (ADEC), Jack maintains an active practice in grief counseling for individuals and couples. He has run support groups for bereaved parents, young widows & widowers,  and suicide survivors, with the latter running for over 13 years.