American Foundation for Suicide Prevention offers Personal Support for Survivors of Suicide Loss

Healing Conversations – formerly known as the Survivor Outreach Program – gives those who have lost someone to suicide the opportunity to talk with our experienced volunteers. These AFSP volunteers, who are themselves survivors of suicide loss, offer understanding and guidance in the weeks and months following a suicide death.

Available in person, on the phone, or by video chat, volunteers are familiar with the isolation that so often accompanies death of this kind, and can show suicide loss survivors a way forward into a world of support, by creating an opportunity for the newly bereaved to speak openly with, and ask questions of, someone who has been there too.

When someone contacts AFSP to request a conversation, AFSP will ask them some questions about their loss, so that they may match them with a suitable volunteer who has experienced a similar loss. Their peer support volunteer will contact them to schedule a conversation at a convenient time and, in the case of in-person visits, at a comfortable location of the person’s choice.

Services that include support for those who have lost someone to suicide are sometimes called "postvention." Here is info from http://www.sprc.org/comprehensive-approach/postvention

What is Postvention?
Postvention is a term often used in the suicide prevention field. The definition below is from the U.S. national guidelines developed by the Survivors of Suicide Loss Task Force.
[Postvention is] an organized response in the aftermath of a suicide to accomplish any one or more of the following:

• To facilitate the healing of individuals from the grief and distress of suicide loss
• To mitigate other negative effects of exposure to suicide
• To prevent suicide among people who are at high risk after exposure to suicide

Email: healingconversations@afsp.org.


Web pages

• Home - https://afsp.org/chapter/greater-sacramento
• Healing Conversations - https://afsp.org/find-support/ive-lost-someone/healing-conversations/