'Suicide Grief' sessions to be offered

Family and friends of people who have died by suicide can get help as they grieve through an upcoming class being funded by the Hancock County Board of Alcohol, Drug Addiction and Mental Health Services. "Suicide Grief: Companioning the Mourner" is a six-week class based on the work of Dr. Alan Wolflet. Sessions will be held from 5:30-7 p.m. on six consecutive Tuesdays beginning Nov. 7, with trained facilitators guiding the group discussion. The free class is recommended for anyone who has experienced the suicide of a loved one, coworker, neighbor or acquaintance and is seeking information about coping with such a profound loss. "In Hancock County, we've been fortunate to have grief support for quite some time with the offerings from Bridge Bereavement Services like Living Through Loss, Family Resource Center being trained in Grief Recovery Method, and now many other community affiliations," said Amber Wolfrom, adult prevention specialist with Family Resource Center. "And with Grief Share being offered throughout our county by multiple churches, we've had great grief support." However, COVID shut down a lot of the support groups down completely or made them virtual, said Wolfrom. At the same time, COVID complicated the ritual and mourning processes of loss, she said. Individuals were not able to have the wakes and funerals they normally would, which stunted their ability to process the loss with their loved ones. There also was an increase in overdose deaths and deaths by suicide, she said. "So all of those things combined led to the local ADAMHS board wanting to create a collaborative of those offering grief support so we weren't duplicating services but also so we weren't kind of tripping over each other," said Wolfrom. She said they wanted to lead the collaborative off with the Companioning the Mourner class because it hadn't been offered locally since 2022. COVID emergency funds enabled a small number of staff from Family Resource Center to be trained in Colorado. They then brought the training back to Hancock County. Wolfrom said individuals are able to attend the classes at no cost. Materials are also provided through local grant funds. Participants will learn about the special features of suicide grief, the language of suicide and other tools to help those touched by suicide find their way to hope and healing. "The whole idea is that 99.999% of the time, individuals are grieving in the way that they're going to grieve and it's normal. But because we all grieve differently, we get a lot of feedback on how we should and shouldn't be doing it," said Wolfrom. "And this is just a chance for people to journey through this with others that have lost someone who died by suicide." It's a different kind of loss, she said. "And we acknowledge that and want them to feel safety in discussing that with others who have been through the same experience," she said. Unfortunately, Hancock County's numbers continue to trend like the state's, she said. "One is too many. But if you think about the ripple effect that one person's death impacts family and friends and neighbors and coworkers and church members, we know that with one loss we have multiple people who are grieving," Wolfrom said. Space is limited, and registration is required in advance at www.frcohio.com/hancock-support-programs or by calling 567-271-3031. Attendees need to attend all six classes. There is also a support component, she said. "We want to make sure that individuals feel comfortable in the class, so to have people coming in and out doesn't really create that sense of a group," Wolfrom said. "And that's why it's important, because they're kind of unpacking their loss along the way and we don't want that to get interrupted." Anyone with questions can call the above number and talk with Wolfrom.