Surviving & Thriving After Loss by Suicide

TRIGGER WARNING – suicide

It was such a privilege to facilitate a conversation with the unthinkably brave, inspiring and open Caroline Roodhouse about the loss of her husband Steve to suicide.

Caroline is hoping that sharing her story will help to:

✅reduce the stigma around suicide

✅encourage others to talk

✅give a voice to the people left behind

✅save lives

There is so much I learnt away from this conversation 

 

Some of my main takeaways:

😭Suicide is grief with the volume turned up

🌱Green shoots of resilience and triangle of recovery

💪🏻Moving from being a victim of loss to being a survivor and occasionally a thriver.

👩‍👧‍👦‘Double’ parent not ‘single’ parent

💞Just be decent human beings and help others to feel comfortable

🏃🏻‍♀️You are only one workout away from being in a good mood

👧🏻A child of a parent who died by suicide is 4x more likely to take their own life

💪🏻Nothing stronger than a broken woman who has helped herself

💗Best thing Caroline’s therapist said “I will carry your hope for you, until you are ready to carry it yourself”

 

Here is a recording of our full conversation.

Caroline’s phenomenal daughter wrote ‘Words Matter’ and urges us to “Make kindness a promise that you keep”

This animation (link here) is being shown to teachers and PTA committees and has been added to the PSHE curriculum at some schools. International business schools and other educational and professional networks are following suit. Mental Health First Aiders, staff groups and line managers are now going to be using it in their workplaces.  It’s been added to websites that provide wellbeing support and resources for young people, the NHS and other bereavement charities.