Yes the price of membership in SOS is too high. Yet, we take what we have been given and we do the best we can with it. We did not choose for someone to die, but we did choose how we would live in the wake of that tragedy. We have chosen life.

 

Through the death of someone we loved, we resurrected the “life” of SOS. We arose like a phoenix out of the ashes. We have survived. We are survivors.

 

Out of the ashes.. A Phoenix

Survivors of Suicide Rises to the Need

 

“Suicide.” You hear that word spoken of a friend or loved one – and now you-feel-as-if-you-just-want-to-die!

 

• Can someone help her? Can someone help him? Can someone help me?  

 

• Is there somewhere I can go, for my fears, my anger, and my frustrations?

 

Survivors of Suicide (SOS) is a support group open to anyone who has experienced the loss of a relative or a friend through suicide. We share the common trauma.

 

Survivors Of Suicide exists because surviving the death by suicide of a loved one, a family member, or a friend is different from a terminal illness, accidental causes, homicide, sudden illness, or natural causes. Why is this so?

 

• We have deep feelings of abandonment, of guilt.

 

• We may have intense anger, and intense sadness.

 

• We may feel shame or embarrassment.

 

• We feel pain, we ache: we are grieving.

 

• We grieve not only for the person who died by suicide, we grieve for us, the survivors.

 

SOS can help you through your grief, your ache, your struggle to wholeness.

 

SOS: A Safe Place

Survivors need a safe place to explore their feelings of grief and anger, to raise questions and doubts.

 

Some survivors have attended an SOS meeting the day of the funeral. Others have come a few months after; some, a few years later. There is no timetable for grief.

 

•We will welcome you at any time. We are here when you are ready for us, and for as long as you need us.

 

•We will listen to you.

 

•We care about living, about loving.

 

•We care about you.

 

Coming Together

Excerpts from the opening words of SOS meetings 

 

“Welcome to this circle where we hope you may find space to grieve, to search, to listen and reach out.

 

Each one of us brings here a story: the story of our brokenness and sorrow, the story of our survival, our need to get more out of life.

 

We come here to be with people who understand our struggle and our hurt: they too have tears in their hands and pain in their hearts.

 

This is a sacred place where we can explore our feelings: our loneliness, our shock, our anger, our guilt, our sadness or whatever is hurting us inside. This is a place where we can share our humanity and find strength and inspiration in each other . . .

 

Although we remain deeply wounded people, let us find comfort and healing in what we believe and in our ability to care for each other.”

 

— Father Arnaldo Pangrazzi, Chaplain

St. Joseph’s Hospital, Waukesha, Wisconsin

 

Contact us for more information about the Survivors of Suicide support group.