- To reach loss survivors more quickly after a suicide death and provide support, resources, and hope.
- To work with early responders to help them better understand the impact of suicide, how survivors are affected by a suicide, and to provide them with practical knowledge and resources in responding to suicide death
- To provide MA loss survivors and early responders with the information necessary to promote healthy grieving, support and hope
The Task Force goals to provide outreach to loss survivors directly is being accomplished through this website, through existing survivor services sponsored by organizations such as the Samaritans, and by the future development of LOSS Teams around the state (LOSS Teams are teams of trained suicide loss survivors and clinicians who provide outreach to new survivors in a community).
The Task Force goals for early responders are being attained by providing training/community dialog sessions for early responders throughout the state which addresses the many issues which arise after a Suicide death. The training goals are to help early responders learn to restore equilibrium and functioning of the environment, provide comfort to those distressed, to reduce the risk of contagion, minimize adverse personal outcomes (depression, complicated grief), and find ways to work together as a community to better support those people impacted by a suicide loss. This website is also a product of those goals. We believe that with active postvention, loss survivors will be able to access help and resources earlier in their grieving journey.
A study shows that, in the absence of an active postvention model, it was about 4 ½ years after the loss for loss survivors to reach out for assistance. With the active postvention model, loss survivors reached out for help in about 39 days after their loss.*