“West Michigan Survivors of Suicide Loss is a nonprofit locally that serves people across West Michigan, and we host monthly support groups.”
Becky Olson is not only vice president of the organization’s board of directors, she’s also a suicide loss survivor, losing her father, Dennis, in 2011. For more than 40 years, the annual conference has provided support with strength in numbers.
“We’re heading into a time when we’re sitting around either at Thanksgiving or a holiday table and there might be a seat that’s not filled by someone that we’ve recently lost, and a lot of times people don’t really know what to do with that grief.”
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Michigan lost just over 1,500 residents to suicide in 2023, a trend that has shown an increase of 32.4% over the past 20 years. That’s slightly higher than the national average.
Olson says the conference addresses the very difficult and complicated emotions that come with losing someone to suicide.
“Do we pretend like it never happened? Do we talk about it? Do we not? Do we have some sort of a new tradition that we can honor? And so, these are a lot of the very difficult decisions and conversations that people need to face.”
Registration for the free November 22nd event can be found online at wmsosl.com
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