On October 10, 2024, Samaritans hosted “Healing Together: Insights from Suicide Loss Survivors,” a webinar that took place on World Mental Health Day. This panel included five suicide loss survivors focusing on what forms of support were most helpful immediately following their loss, what actions or words were unintentionally hurtful, and the types of support they received.
Throughout the webinar, panelists shared ways to support those affected by suicide, focusing on the importance of active listening, honest check-ins, and leading with compassion.
Pooja Mehta, an Asian American mental health and suicide prevention advocate who lost her brother Raj to suicide shared some of the unhelpful things people did following her loss. “A lot of people showed up for me in the way that they would want to be supported. Which was not how I needed to be supported, it wasn’t what I needed, and they didn’t respond well when I asked for what I needed.”
When asked what helped her the most after her loss, Shannon Woolley, who is now a facilitator for Samaritans Grief Support Services, emphasized the significance of the Survivor to Survivor visit during the beginning of her grief journey. Amid an incredibly difficult time, that visit inspired her to one day support others in similar situations. It took her nine years before she began volunteering with Samaritans where she now helps other survivors.
“It was actually the Survivor to Survivor visit I had from Samaritans that was the most helpful. I couldn’t believe that two perfect strangers were willing to come to my apartment and talk to me for two hours on a Saturday afternoon about their grief and mine,” Woolley said.
The panel also explores the vital role of peer support like Samaritans SafePlace meetings in the grieving process, emphasizing the importance of connecting with others who have experienced the unique pain of suicide loss.
SafePlace facilitator Lynn Bennett lost her partner Edmond in July 2017. She spoke about how SafePlace meetings are filled with people who truly understand her experience because they are also loss survivors who are able to offer a shred of normalcy.
“The medicinal power of shared trauma, that is why [SafePlace] groups work, because there are other people there who have a similar loss, a similar story, and that is the thing I think that has been the most helpful for me, though it is certainly not required, to show up for a friend who has gone through the same thing,” Bennett said.
This webinar created a safe space for survivors and a learning environment for friends, family, and professionals seeking to better support those in grief.
Panelists:
Lynn Bennett lost her partner Edmond in July 2017. She has been volunteering with Samaritans as a facilitator for Suicide Grief Support programs since January 2020. Outside of her work with Samaritans, Lynn is a technical designer for a big and tall men’s clothing company.
Pooja Mehta is an outspoken Asian American mental health and suicide prevention advocate, and lost her brother, Raj, in March of 2020. As a professional with direct Lived Experience and a suicide loss survivor, Pooja leverages her personal and professional expertise to empower the AAPI and Immigrant-American communities to engage with the difficult topics of mental health, grief, and suicide. In her spare time, Pooja enjoys talking to her friends, rock climbing, and catching up on TV shows with her cat, Pepper.
Shannon Woolley has been volunteering with Samaritans since 2020 as a facilitator for SafePlace and the Survivor to Survivor Network. She previously worked as a psychiatric occupational therapist and received a doctorate in counseling and consulting psychology. She later shifted her career to focus on theater, as an actor and playwright.
Moderator: Steven J. Karaiskos, Ph.D., is the founder of Elpis Consulting, Coaching & Community Building. Steven is an educator and emotion scientist, an advocate for educator well-being, an activist for suicide prevention/awareness & grief, and a dynamic and creative community builder. He is a suicide loss survivor himself and facilitates peer grief support groups for those who have had a loss to suicide.
Moderator: Sissi O’Shaughnessy is Senior Director of Suicide Grief Support at Samaritans. She is also the founder of the Mo Foundation, honoring her late husband. Sissi previously worked as a community education and outreach trainer with Samaritans, where she provided workshops to schools and other communities on suicide prevention.
