What survivors have said about support groups

My first meeting really blew me away. People were throwing around the S word so casually - suicide this and suicide that. To me suicide was like a curse word. I had felt so isolated, but all of a sudden I saw that there were other people who knew exactly what I was going through.

The groups never became depressing to me, just the opposite. When I was younger, my life was troubled. Along the way, I was helped by different people who literally redirected my course. It is very important for someone to be there to listen. I believe that life is a journey and there should be sentinels along the way to hold out their hand to you. You, in turn, should hold out your hand to others. I will do that for the rest of my life.

I felt it was good, because here are other people who have gone through it. I didn't want to talk much at home because if my sister felt good that day, I certainly didn't want to burden her. So I'd rather talk to someone outside. I felt I wasn't burdening the people in the group. They were very supportive.

Mutual support helps us deal with the myth that, "If only I'd done something different, made him feel more loved - he'd have lived."

We are the heroes. We are the ones trying to put our lives back together piece by piece. We are the ones who have to face straightening up the mess and making sense of the insanity. We cry, we laugh, we hang on to each other for dear life, but we do survive, thank God.

I could not have survived without the groups. The people there were the only ones who could understand the pain, guilt, horror, and fear that I was experiencing. We all had self-destructive thoughts after the suicide - I wasn't crazy after all. I also felt compassion for everyone at the meetings. I cried for them and cried for myself. Once I realized there was still a part of me that could care for others, I knew I would be okay.

Used with permission. Teen Survivors of Suicide.