ALLIANCE OF HOPE FOR SUICIDE SURVIVORS
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December 10, 2012
When my best friend killed herself in October of this year, I just did not know what to do. I have a lot of support but I wanted to find some online help as well. It took me a few days of reading to finally register, but I am really glad I did. Everyone was very warm and comforting. I am agnostic and I definitely felt very welcomed, like there was a place for me here. People were very gentle with me and reassured me that everything I was feeling was normal. Reading about others' experiences and comforting others has been a huge source of comfort for me. Losing someone to suicide is very different from a natural or accidental death, and everyone on the board understands that. I have seen nothing but compassion for others there, and it has been a godsend. I cannot imagine how I would have ever gotten through this so far without this board. So many people surviving a loved one's suicide have no support, and not only does this board provide that, but it also shows that people can heal, and have hope for happiness in the future.
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How would you describe the help you got from this organization?
Life-changing
How likely are you to recommend this organization to a friend?
Definitely
How do you feel you were treated by this organization?
Very Well
When was your last experience with this nonprofit?
2012
1 person found this review helpful
December 10, 2012
1 person found this review helpful
My name is Kathy and my husband completed suicide 2 years ago. Although I found endless support from close friends and family, nothing compared to sharing your feelings with others who have experienced such an experience. The support, wisdom and care I found on Alliance of hope was amazing. I am from Malta, a very small humble island in the mediterranean. Although there are endless support groups, there is nothing related to losing someone to suicide. So when I was browsing the net and came across this site and started reading posts shared by survivors, I felt like I could finally relate. I finally spoke to people without getting worried of being judged. Sharing your experience and listening to others advice certainly was very positive for me. This forum is a blessing and a place where I found solace. Away from the busy outside world. The way this forum has been set up is great. It is not only a place to share your grief and heart break, it is also a place where you can share your accomplishments during the process of healing. Losing a loved one to suicide, leaves us with very complex grief, unanswered questions, shock and guilt. My fellow survivors at the Alliance of hope, helped me accept my situation further and also helped me with certain grief issues I had. The Alliance is not just a place I visit when I'm down and at my wits end, but it is a place of comfort for me and is becoming like a small second family for me. It has also motivated me to get the ball rolling to perhaps get a suicide survivor group going here. The Alliance of hope forum is something very special, it is reaching people from all over the world and all aspects of life. Today I am doing very well, I am in love with a fantastic man and thankful for having my precious daughter. I still feel the need to visit the forum, and would also like to continue visiting the forum. It has done nothing but good for me. Thank you Alliance of hope xxx
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How would you describe the help you got from this organization?
Life-changing
How likely are you to recommend this organization to a friend?
Definitely
How do you feel you were treated by this organization?
Very Well
When was your last experience with this nonprofit?
2012
1 person found this review helpful
December 10, 2012
1 person found this review helpful
I have no family or friends who care to listen to me. They expect you to get over it, and it makes them uncomfortable, and listening to a survivor of suicide is one of the most/if not THE most IMPORTANT parts of their healing. The need to talk about it is overwhelming and crucial. This site has taken the place of that lack in my life. My husband took his life almost a year ago, and this site has been my life-line and a great source of information. To be able to communicate with others who truly understand and who encourage and help you along the way is a lifesaver.
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How would you describe the help you got from this organization?
A lot
How likely are you to recommend this organization to a friend?
Definitely
How do you feel you were treated by this organization?
Very Well
When was your last experience with this nonprofit?
2012
December 10, 2012
This website is the perfect tool to start the healing process.I lost my younger brother to suicide in Oct 12 and don't know what I would of done if I hadn't come across it.
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Will you volunteer or donate to this organization?
Likely
When was your last experience with this nonprofit?
2012
December 9, 2012
After my husband died by suicide, I began to search for information. I found The alliance of Hope one night and proceeded to read it for 7 hours. the stories are sad but the insight and understanding is invaluable. The moderators provide sincere comments and thoughts. They have helped to see that I am not alone which means so much.
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Will you volunteer or donate to this organization?
Definitely
How much of an impact do you think this organization has?
A lot
When was your last experience with this nonprofit?
2012
December 9, 2012
As a recent survivor of suicide loss, this forum has helped me begin the long journey of getting through a monumental emotional task. My son killed himself in September 2012. I live in a rural area and despite seeking out resources, there are no support groups in my county. The nearest one is 2 hours away and not at a convenient time. Sure, there are therapists that I could go to for individual counseling, but I wanted the connection of others who have suffered through the same thing and could affirm my feelings of loss without judgement or stigma association. The Alliance of Hope for Suicide Survivors offers me comfort, community and healing energy. I strongly support it's existence and continued efforts.
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How would you describe the help you got from this organization?
Life-changing
How likely are you to recommend this organization to a friend?
Definitely
How do you feel you were treated by this organization?
Very Well
When was your last experience with this nonprofit?
2012
December 9, 2012
My 19 yo son committed suicide on his birthday in 2000. I have not been able to find help to grieve. The Alliance of Hope for Suicide Survivors has given me a nonjugmental avenue to express my feelings and provided hope to continue healing.
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How would you describe the help you got from this organization?
A lot
How likely are you to recommend this organization to a friend?
Definitely
How do you feel you were treated by this organization?
Very Well
When was your last experience with this nonprofit?
2012
December 9, 2012
My husband committed suicide on August 11, 2012. I never thought that he would do that to me or the children and grandchildren. The Alliance of Hope for Suicide Providers has greatly helped me through this grief process. This forum allows communication with those that understand exactly what you are going through without having to completely explain your feelings.
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Would you volunteer for this group again?
Definitely
For the time you spent, how much of an impact did you feel your work or activity had?
Life-changing
Did the organization use your time wisely?
Very Well
Would you recommend this group to a friend?
Definitely
When was your last experience with this nonprofit?
2012
November 7, 2012
Suicide traumatizes those left behind, and the Alliance of Hope for Suicide Survivors provides a safe, nonjudgmental atmosphere for them to heal, often the only such place in areas where support resources are limited or stigma creates impenetrable boundaries of isolation. The clinically moderated forum, blog, and Web site are lifelines, often called "sacred spaces" where healing can and does take place though that may seem impossible to survivors at first.
More feedback...
Would you volunteer for this group again?
Definitely
For the time you spent, how much of an impact did you feel your work or activity had?
Life-changing
Did the organization use your time wisely?
Very Well
Would you recommend this group to a friend?
Definitely
When was your last experience with this nonprofit?
2012
July 10, 2012
2 people found this review helpful
I lost my dear husband of 33 years to suicide in 2007. When he ended his life, he ended the only life I had known as an adult. I felt so alone. When I found the Alliance of Hope for Suicide Survivors, I found other people like me, people in pain offering hope to each other. Hope was all we had, but it was what we needed. Now, five years later, I volunteer as a forum moderator. Every day I try to hand out hope to people who are hurting because I remember what that pain feels like and how alone I felt. And I see how strong this Alliance has made me now. When I read posts, I often send replies for hours because, well, who do you leave out? The mom who suddenly found out that the son she loves killed himself? The young person whose friends don't understand why she can't just "get over" her mother's death. The man who lost his only sibling? The fiance whose future is ended before it's begun? The widow my age who writes my own story when she tells about her tragedy? The rest of the world doesn't know how many nights we suffer. They don't see the tears we feel we must hide from them just to make it until the end of the day. They are not aware that we were once like them and that they might one day be one of us. If that happens, I pray the Alliance will still be there. Hope is a fragile commodity but, without it, where would any of us be?
The Great!
I've personally experienced the results of this organization in...
my own life. My children and I have grown stronger and gone beyond just surviving. We have a new life now, one that would have been impossible without the Alliance of Hope for Suicide Survivors.
Ways to make it better...
If I had to make changes to this organization, I would...
request funding and put what this organization has accomplished before those who could help spread the word about the life-saving work the Alliance of Hope for Suicide Survivors does every day.
More feedback...
Would you volunteer for this group again?
Definitely
For the time you spent, how much of an impact did you feel your work or activity had?
Life-changing
Did the organization use your time wisely?
Very Well
Would you recommend this group to a friend?
Definitely
When was your last experience with this nonprofit?
2012
Did your volunteer experience have an effect on you? (teaching you a new skill, or introducing new friends, etc.)
I have made many friends from all over the world, and I have learned how to express compassion, to ease pain, and to be there for others.
How did this volunteer experience make you feel?
It changed my life and continues to change my life every day. I am humbled by the words of others who offer me an invitation into their very soul and the deepest part of their suffering. I mourn with them and rejoice in their smallest victories. This is the way human beings should help each other.
June 22, 2011
1 person found this review helpful
When my husband's personality changed, after 28 years of marriage, I didn't know what was happening. For over five years after that, we tried to get help from doctors of every kind, from professionals in seven counties in two states. Even after I learned that my precious soul mate, a man who had been only gentle and kind, was struggling with mental illness and alcohol addiction, none of the reading and research I did or the courses I took or the support groups I joined prepared me for losing him to suicide. When it happened, in 2007, I was utterly alone in my shock and grief. Though I was surrounded by loving family members and counseled by a professional in private sessions, no one could really help me. No one, that is, until I found an online group called The Alliance of Hope for Suicide Survivors. I had tried other groups. My local Survivors of Suicide group disbanded after a year, and other online groups did not offer what I needed. The Alliance of Hope was different. I joined in September of 2008, about nine months after the group was founded. What impressed me then was not only that the founder and moderator had professional training and clinical experience in counseling people in traumatic grief but also that she had lost a loved one to suicide. She knew my darkness. No matter the day or the hour, I could turn to the forum and read what this quickly growing number of fellow sufferers were posting. I could see I was no longer alone. In reading about their pain, and in sharing my own, I began to heal, but the journey we are all on is not an easy one. Few people understand what it is even like or that it is a journey measured in years, not months or days. We are forever changed, in fact, and do not have the luxury of going back to lives that have been irrevocably demolished. The guilt, confusion, misinformation, heartache, questions, and the enormity of being left without a life and disconnected from even the physical world for a time is overwhelming to new survivors. The pain cannot be imagined. How was I to go on? What was to become of my children? When would the nightmares end? I received help with all of these issues and so many more from the leadership and members. This is a group no one wants to need, but the statistics on suicide are staggering. People from all over the world are members of The Alliance of Hope because suicide crosses all geographic, national, racial, ethnic, economic, political and social boundaries. No one is immune.
The Great!
I've personally experienced the results of this organization in...
I've seen the change within myself that occurred because of working within this group. I watched myself transition from being a raw new survivor to a more experienced and compassionate friend to those whose loss was more recent than my own. I've gained personal strength and the ability to go back out into the world and take on new challenges. I've come to new understandings that helped not only me but also my daughters know that what happened to my husband was not something shameful.
Ways to make it better...
If I had to make changes to this organization, I would...
I would like to see real-time conferences and more programs that are only visions now. This group has the ability to change lives and do so on an amazingly large scale. I would like to see more funding available for the various projects and ideas the leadership has the potential to develop.
More feedback...
How would you describe the help you got from this organization?
Life-changing
How likely are you to recommend this organization to a friend?
Definitely
How do you feel you were treated by this organization?
Very Well
How did you find this group?
Internet search about suicide
What, if any, change in your life has this group encouraged?
I feel stronger and more able to handle the debilitating ups and downs of life after suicide. The most profound change is that I now view myself as not just a survivor but also someone who can have a real life again, a joyful life, while preserving and honoring the memories of my old life. The Alliance of Hope for Suicide Survivors has helped me do that.
When was your last experience with this nonprofit?
2011
November 1, 2012
The forum provides the support to get through this difficult time because it provides the opportunity to connect with others experiencing similar situation. By being able to connect and communicate with other survivors I do not feel alone and I am and able to validate that the roller coaster of emotions, especially the guilt, is normal. This site is also a life line because since this experience is so difficult to bear at times, can have suicidal feeling; but by connecting with other survivors that share this suicidal feeling I am able to realize that this too is a normal feeling and that gives me the strength to hold on until the feeling passes away. Having a forum that connects survivors is criticsl because other people are unable to understand if they have never experienced suicide. If someone does not understand, then will be unable to support. People who have not experienced suicide expect survivors to be over the grief in too short a period of time. They do not understand that it takes much longer because we are not able to even begin to really grieve until after we get through all the other enotions and phases, such as, the guilt, wanting to know the answers to why, and replaying the what if/ would have/ should have games. Our minds are constantly being pulled into these unproductive games and until we reach a place where we are able to let go of all these questions, then our minds are unable to begin dealing with the real grief-the sense of loss. Other people do not understand and therefore place too much pressure on us to "get over it". By coming to this forum we are able to realize that nothing is wrong with us when we are not over it yet.
More feedback...
How would you describe the help you got from this organization?
A lot
How likely are you to recommend this organization to a friend?
Definitely
How do you feel you were treated by this organization?
Quite well
When was your last experience with this nonprofit?
2012
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