Surviving Suicide: A Layman's Guide to Keeping Oneself Motivated in the Face of Tremendous Odds By Mr. Johnson Thomas

1. The Layman’s guide
to Surviving Suicide

4. Survivor of Suicide Loss
“We all know that when we physically
lose people we love, that part of them is never
lost because they are always in our hearts.
♦But for me, there are times like this
morning, when the giant hole in my heart
seems to get bigger and bigger. As the
teardrops continue to fall and enlarge the hole,
it feels like you get farther and farther away…
And that unbearable feeling, of your seeming
to get farther and farther away, the feeling of
losing touch with what is in my heart, restarts
the cycle

5. Survivor of Suicide Loss
♦ If you are a survivor of suicide loss. You
have been through a traumatic experience
of losing a loved one to suicide. This will
be something that will stay with you
forever. Suicide can be very different than
losing a family member in a different way
other than to suicide. There are feelings
and emotions that can be unique to losing
someone to suicide:

12. Re-Engaging with Life
Suicide Survivors Day
A Celebration of Life in all it’s
manifestations
AASRA
Helping People in Despair
Helpline:022-27546669(24 hrs)

13. Re-Engaging with Life
♦ Life's challenges are not supposed to paralyze
you, they're supposed to help you discover who
you are.
-- Bernice Johnson Reagon
♦ Life does not cease to be funny when people
die; any more than it ceases to be serious when
people laugh.
-- George Bernard Shaw
♦ No one is in control of your happiness but you;
therefore, you have the power to change
anything about yourself or your life that you
want to change. - Barbara de Angelis

14. From Surviving To Thriving
♦ Every Suicide Makes this statement “This
far and no further” Edwin Shneidman
♦ Perhaps what finally makes him kill himself
is not the firmness of his resolve but the
unbearable quality of his anguish . Albert
Alvarez
♦ Ultimately it is not how they died but that
they died, that is so terrible. Adina
Wrobleski

15. Father of Suicidology
♦ Edwin Schneidman coined the term
‘Postvention’ and referred to ‘Survivors of
Suicide’ as the largest mental health
casualty area related to suicide.

16. Suicide Survivors
♦ Who are they?
♦ Anyone impacted by suicide
♦ How many are they?
♦ 1 suicide every 15 minutes so 6 survivors
every 15 minutes.

17. Be A Survivor
♦ When we are ready, the void left by a
relationship, a job or a dream can then be
viewed as open space that can be filled with
something new; new experiences, new
beginnings, new knowledge, new job
opportunities, new dreams, new people and
new ways to grow.

18. Be A Survivor
♦ Accept the Intensity of the Grief
♦ Grief following a suicide is always
complex. Survivors don’t get over it.
Instead with the right kind of support and
understanding they can reconcile
themselves to it’s reality.