Our Encounters with Suicide, edited by Alec Grant, Judith Haire, Fran Biley and Brendan Stone.
From the book web site:
The collection brings together a range of voices on the theme of suicide — those who have been suicidal, alongside the friends, family and staff who have lived and worked with them. Too often the rhetoric of ‘suicidology’ is occupied only by those who have never had personal experience of suicidality. The first-person voice is strangely absent. These frank accounts go some way to correcting the balance.
We hope that these narratives will be helpful for people who may have had similar encounters, or are harbouring future suicidal intentions, and for those who care for them personally or professionally; that readers can use the stories in the book to make better sense of their own experiences and decisions. Ultimately we hope that the book will facilitate a more empathic understanding of the experiences of others generally, and of people who were close to and have been lost to suicide.
Forewords Professor Gillian Bendelow & Dr Katherine Johnson
1. Introduction Alec Grant, Judith Haire, Brendan Stone
Witnessing suicide
2. Violent impact Karl Davis
Living in the wake of suicide
3. Pamela Pamela Kirk
4. Philippa Philippa Brook
5. A lesson learned all too well, perhaps? Stacey Autote
6. From sisterhood to suicide: The story of a suicide loss Cath Walsh
7. Untitled Catherine Carley
8. Gone but not forgotten Georgina Smith
9. Untitled Alex
10. Suicidal wisdom Jayne Stewart
11. Pepe Karen McDonald
12. Living on the edge Abigal Muchecheti
13. The other half Jo Rhodes
14. D Gilly Graham
15. A lifetime changed in a moment Neil Ritchie
16. Self-portrait Lost Soul
Thinking suicide
17. My father’s war Sid Prise
18. Choosing to be Ruth Kilner
19. The ultimate barrier – for all those who never made it back Tessa Glaze
20. Semi-suicidal Helen Harrop
21. Untitled Naomi
Surviving suicide
22. Suicide – my story Anonymous
23. The secrets of suicide Dawn Willis
24. The suicide note is not my story (or the suicide note does not play my song) Dolly Sen
25. Phoenix to ashes Madame de Merteuil
26. The day I went to the meadow Felicity Stennett
27. ‘Con Hearse’ Kathryn Ann Littlewood
28. ‘The silence of suicide’ Michael Skinner
Defending suicide
29. In defense of suicide Kathryn Rosenfeld
30. A red sadness: My dad’s story Chrissie Hinde
31. An epilogue: Suicide and sense making Alec Grant
Appendix 1: Maytree: A sanctuary for the suicidal
Appendix 2: Useful links and contacts
