Guidelines for how to discuss suicide.

My new semicolon tattoo in memory of my brother, to help raise suicide prevention awareness.

Light a candle on World Suicide Prevention Day: www.iasp.info/wspd

Alexis Oliver

Candles for World Suicide Prevention Day: one for my brother, one for sibling survivors of suicide loss, and one for all loved ones lost to suicide.

Today is World Suicide Prevention Day. I'll be lighting a candle for my brother this evening. And another for all who have lost loved ones to suicide. You are in my thoughts.

I wrote this in the wake of my youngest brother’s suicide… To remind the rest of my brothers and all those I love of the truth, in hopes that they will come to me if ever faced with the same darkness

 Thank you so much for sharing this, it's beautiful. I love it.

Everything I do, I do it for him.

"Guilt is the one negative emotion that seems to be universal to all survivors of suicide, and overcoming it is perhaps our greatest obstacle on the path to healing. Guilt is your worst enemy, because it is a false accusation..."

I needed this today. Please read if you have lost a loved one to suicide.

From the Canadian Association of Suicide Prevention

It seems every time the topic of suicide comes up, someone attacks suicide victims by calling them "selfish." I've heard it in real life; I've read it in articles; I've seen it on Facebook. But this attitude is disgusting and abhorrent, and...

... Excellent article from huffingtonpost.com. 

Canadian Association of Suicide Prevention (CASP.ca) by Klinic on Vimeo.

"After a Suicide: Surviving a Suicide Loss" Video.

Canadian Associaton of Suicide Prevention (CASP.ca) by Klinic on Vimeo: "Let's Talk About Suicide" Video.

The Cup Analogy - Tracy T. Dean, M.S.

There is a cup of water sitting on a table. It is so full it is rounded at the top. One or two drops of water are added to the cup and it spills over. What caused the water to spill? We want to blame the last one or two drops, but in an empty cup it would not spill. It was not the water in the cup prior to the drops being added, because if left alone, it would not have spilled. It was a combination of all the drops of water in the cup that came before and the last one or two drops that caused the water to spill. In a person’s life, the water in the cup is symbolic of all the hurt, pain, shame, humiliation, and loss not dealt with along the way. The last couple of drops symbolize the “trigger events,” “the last straw,” the event or situation that preceded the final act of taking one’s own life. Often we want to blame the trigger event, but this does not make sense to us. Like the water, these events all by themselves would not cause someone to end their life. It is the combination of everything in that person’s life not dealt with and the last one or two things that caused our loved ones to lose hope.

For us, we must find a way to pour out the water along the way. This may be through talking it out, writing it out, sometimes yelling it out—whatever works for you. We must learn to deal with our pain in a way our loved ones could not. This analogy does not give us the concrete answer many of us are looking for, but I know it made sense for me and has been helpful for many survivors. It allowed me to let go of the search for “why” and to find a different way of dealing with my pain.

By Tracy T. Dean, M.S. - National Resource Center for Suicide Prevention and Aftercare.

This analogy was in a paper I received at a support meeting. I found it helpful.