The unthinkable has happened
Painful. Crushing. Traumatic. Confusing.
Complicated.
No chance to say goodbye. No final embrace, kiss, or touch. No opportunity to clear the air, ask and give forgiveness, or make amends.
A life gone.
The tsunami has come, and now you’re left standing amid the aftermath.
Why I Wrote This Book
My mom attempted suicide when I was in high school. Over the last decade, I’ve had hundreds of interactions with those who’ve experienced a suicide death. I officiated at more than a dozen suicide funerals in my community in a two-year period. I started bumping into suicide everywhere – in the news, on social media, in emails, and in everyday conversations.
Then, just before Christmas 2018, a friend’s teen son took his own life. Sadness, anger, confusion, guilt permeated my friend’s sobs, words, and body language. He was broken, crushed, shattered.
I had to do something. It was time to write. Aftermath was the result.
I wrote Aftermath to…
- Connect with your heart in all the pain, grief, and confusion.
- Be a companion for you in this unwanted, heart-crushing process that has been thrust upon you.
- Be a source of comfort, perspective, healing, and peace.
- Provide practical tools to help you pick up the pieces and begin to rebuild your heart and life.
In Aftermath, you can discover how to…
- Be kind to yourself and patient with yourself during this incredibly hard time.
- Manage the racing thoughts and volatile emotions that come.
- Deal with other people and the unhelpful words and weird reactions that come your way.
- Navigate the tough spiritual issues and faith questions that confront your soul.
- Grieve in healthy ways that honor the one you lost, take your own heart seriously, and express kindness and compassion to those around you.
- Abandon the notion of quick fixes, self-medicating relief, and the lying voice of addiction as a way out.
- Latch onto the truth that no one is beyond repair and that anyone can heal – including you.
- Use your grief as fuel for good and make this death count by living with more purpose and meaning than ever before.
- Save lives and become part of the solution to this raging suicide epidemic.
You didn’t choose this road. You woke up one day and found you were on it. You’re left standing amid the aftermath.
But you are not alone. Far from it. Let Aftermath become an understanding companion for you in the days ahead.
ABOUT GARY
In addition to Aftermath, Gary Roe is the author of the award-winning bestsellers Shattered: Surviving the Loss of a Child, Please Be Patient, I’m Grieving, Heartbroken: Healing from the Loss of a Spouse and Surviving the Holidays Without You. He is also the co-author (with New York Times Bestseller Cecil Murphey) of Not Quite Healed and Saying Goodbye. Gary has been featured on Focus on the Family and CBN, and has more than 500 grief-related articles in print. He is a popular speaker at a wide variety of venues. He currently works as a chaplain and grief specialist with Hospice Brazos Valley in central Texas. Gary loves being a husband and father. He has seven adopted children, including three Colombian daughters. He enjoys swimming, hockey, corny jokes, and cool Hawaiian shirts. Gary and his wife Jen and family live in Texas.
Praise
I wish I had this resource five years ago. Aftermath provides exactly what is needed for family and friends who are grieving a suicide loss. These pearls of affirmation, encouragement and perspective lift the emotional fog and direct grievers towards healing.
Aftermath is a remarkable piece of writing. It thoroughly captures the comprehensive scope of the human experience and its collision with suicide. The author’s authenticity is evident and will touch readers in a holistic way. Aftermath will certainly touch many hearts who hunger for hope and healing after a suicide death.
In Aftermath, Gary Roe offers hope, validation, acceptance, and an understanding of the “aftermath” that is the grief journey for someone who’s loved one died by suicide. All too frequently, the stigma associated with suicide hinders one’s ability to rebuild and recognize what is healthy (even if it is painful) in grief. Through the loving, straightforward, practical, and open style of Aftermath, the stigma is removed, and only hope and love remain.
Aftermath by Gary Roe is a must have in your library if you are a helper or have been touched by the tragic loss of suicide. The ongoing guilt expressed by survivors is described well on these pages, as well as how to navigate this rocky road. Thank you for addressing an area of grief that is filled with guilt and shame.
Aftermath is sensitive, compassionate, straightforward, and thorough. Gary addresses the incredible tsunami a single suicide death unleashes on the hearts, minds, souls, bodies, and relationships of family members, friends, and coworkers. Though the subject matter is heavy, Aftermath is an easy and practical read. Readers will find comfort, hope, and healing in its pages.
In Aftermath, Gary Roe has created a masterpiece for healing the hearts of so many devastated people who have been crushed by the suicide of a loved one. Aftermath answers so many questions that plague those left behind. Roe combines practical advice and professional expertise along with heartfelt compassion and uncanny intuition to open a door to recovery for so many who are hurting. This book offers hope, healing, purpose, and inspiration. I strongly recommend Aftermath to anyone who has lost a loved one to suicide and to anyone who has ever contemplated suicide.
