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Suggestions

SOS offers the following suggestions for survivors of a loss by suicide:

 

1. Seek support from family members, friends, clergy, support groups, and perhaps a mental health professional. These interactions will provide new insights and perspectives, and be very beneficial as we live beyond the loss.

 

2. Maintain contact with friends through lunches and other daily contacts. This is not the time to be alone. Be intentional and take the initiative in these contacts. These interactions can be of immense help to you.

 

3. Don’t be discouraged or disheartened by what appear to be thoughtless words or actions by some of those around you. Often people want to help but don’t know what to say or do. Help them to feel more comfortable.

 

4. Don’t dwell on the final words or events in the life of your loved one. The death was a tragic end of your life together, but it does not represent the substance of the person or of your life with them.

 

5. Recognize that your experience can help others, that we can benefit one another in our search for some restoration by sharing our experiences, both good and bad. Helping in the healing of another survivor can have an important positive effect on you.

 

6. Know that you are not alone, that someone takes their life every 11 minutes in the USA, and many others are going through a situation similar to yours at this moment. Allow yourself to have partners in this journey of surviving the loss of a loved one.

 

Suicide Survivor Groups in Albuquerque

For more information on any of these groups send an email to sosinabq@gmail.com or call the message line

 

SOSABQ - Survivors of Suicide is a peer support group, with people helping one another through the stages of grieving after a suicide death. 

 

Meets 2nd and 4th Saturdays from 1-2:30 pm at St. Luke Lutheran Church, 9100 Menaul Blvd. NE 87112

 

Meets 1st and 3rd Mondays from 7-8:30 pm at Shepherd of the Valley Presbyterian Church, 1801 Montano Rd. NW 

Contact:

SOS Message Line: 505-400-9942

Joe Thompson - thompson.consulting@gmail.com

Website:  http://www.sosabq.org

SOS MOMS GROUP( part of SOS ABQ)

3rd Friday in person at St.Michael's and All Angels 601 Montano NW from 12 am to 1:30 pm.

Other Suicide Survivors Support Groups in New Mexico

SOS Santa Fe  meets twice a month:

1st Thursday Online via Zoom from 5:00-6:30 pm. 

3rd Thursday  In-person meetings in the library of the Unitarian Church on the corner of Galisteo and Barcelona. ( 107 W Barcelona Rd. Santa Fe)

Contact: Camille Clifford  ccliffordino@gmail.com

 www.santafesurvivorsofsuicide.com

Las Cruces SOS Group

These are closed groups for 8 weeks at a time. You can send a message to contacts below to find out when the next one will begin.

EMAIL: SOSGroupLC@gmail.com

PHONE: 575-249-5375    WEBSITE:  lcsuicideprevention.com

Healing Conversations  (formerly Survivor Outreach Program) If you've lost someone you love to suicide request an in-person visit or phone conversation with a trained peer facilitator.  Email:  healingconversations@afsp.org

 

National Suicide Survivor Groups

AAS - American Association of Suicidology

website:  www.suicidology.org/

 

They offer a free online newsletter Surviving Suicide (Online Subscription)
Surviving Suicide is a quarterly newsletter written for and by survivors of suicide. To subscribe, please fill out an order form, and fax it or mail it to AAS. If you’re interested in submitting an article, see our writer’s guidelines.

 

AFSP - American Foundation for Suicide Prevention

Local NM Chapter - Contact Bee Chavez  - newmexico@afsp.org

website:  www.afsp.org

Proactive/Prevention work with youth 

Breaking the Silence NM - a program that offers mental illness and suicide awareness education to youth in NM schools. Also offered are training for staff, counselors, and social workers on presenting mental illness and suicide awareness in classrooms.  CEU's are available.  Ph: 505-331-8882

www.breakingthesilencenm.org

 

The Sky Center and the NM Suicide Intervention Project

Website:   www.nmsip.org

 

Youth Suicidehttp://www.learnpsychology.org/suicide-depression-student-guidebook/

Prevention training for adults:

 

Mental Health First Aid and Youth Mental Health First Aid:  

Wendy Linebrink - Allison, B. Soc. Sci., CPSW
Program Manager, New Mexico Crisis and Access Line
p: 866-821-9098 | m:505-263-9140
email:  wendy.linebrink-allison@nmcrisisline.com

 

Breaking the Silence NM training:

email: breakingthesilence.nm@gmail.com

www.breakingthesilencenm.org

Community Education/ Professional Development:  Learn about mental illness and suicide awareness to help reduce stigma and increase compassion. 

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