This is a book for people who have lost a loved one to suicide, written by someone who has suffered the same loss.
I lost my wife, Gail, to suicide several years ago. She was 33 when she took a deliberate overdose of pills. The emotional journey of the ensuing weeks, months, and years has been the most difficult of my life. But I survived and have learned from my experience. Most of all, I have rebuilt my life and found happiness again. Impossible as it may seem right now, you will survive this, too.
This book is not intended to be a complete guide for the suicide survivor—it only scratches the surface. There’s much more you can learn about coping with your unique grief than what is offered here. There are many wonderful books on the subject—some of which are listed inside— that I recommend heartily. However, I’ve written this book as a kind of “bite-sized” overview. It’s deliberately short and to the point to make the information inside more accessible. You may even find it useful to carry it around with you for a while and refer to it during difficult moments.
This is also not a book about suicide prevention; there are many other publications that address that challenge. This book is for you.