Suicide Prevention Includes Caring for the Bereaved I'm so glad Franklin Cook and I found each other. He's an expert on the effects of exposure to suicide on family and friends and has been part of a groundbreaking document he discusses below. I was so deeply affected by my son's suicide I considered suicide myself. Instead I decided to be an advocate for erasing the stigma of mental illness and helping to prevent suicide*. Looking at the effects of suicide on loved ones and working to help assuage their unique kind of grief is one way to do that. Please help me welcome Franklin Cook, my Choices guest today. He's an expert on grief after suicide. Groundbreaking Guidelines Address Grief, Trauma, Distress of Suicide Loss By Franklin Cook A historic document, Responding to Grief, Trauma, and Distress After a Suicide: U.S. National Guidelines, was announced earlier this month at theAssociation for Death Education and Counseling conference in San Antonio and at theAmerican … [Read more...]
Suicide Prevention Day – Monday, September 10
In honor of Suicide Prevention Day, my publisher Mike O'Mary of Dream of Things is offering free Kindle copies of my memoir, Leaving the Hall Light On: A Mother's Memoir of Living with Her Son's Suicide and Surviving His Suicide. Here's what he says: Hello Friends! I have a couple of updates for you... First of all, next Monday, September 10, is Worldwide Suicide Prevention Day, and on September 8, 9 & 10, Amazon will be giving away free copies of the Kindle edition of Madeline Sharples' Leaving the Hall Light On. Madeline's memoir is an informative and inspiring story about the circumstances surrounding her son's suicide, and about how she and her family have been affected. Here's what Fran Edstrom of the American Association of Suicidology had to say: "Sharples tells it like it is, baring her soul to the reader. In doing so, she allows the reader to address and ponder the usually unspoken side of coping with mental illness and suicide. I recommend this book to … [Read more...]
A new and fabulous review by Fran Edstrom
The American Association of Suicidology's Recent Reviews column posted such a sensitive and insightful review of my memoir, Leaving the Hall Light On, that I have to share it verbatim. Reviewed by: Fran Edstrom, Editor at Winona Post in Winona, MN. At 321 pages, Madeline Sharples' memoir, Leaving the Hall Light On, is very readable and well-written. Sharples is a 70-year-old married mother of two whose oldest son died of suicide at age 27. Her memoir recounts her son's battle with Bipolar Disorder, the effect of his illness on the family and on his relationships with his friends. This is not a dispassionate account of mental illness leading to suicide. Sharples makes several references in the narrative to her forays into poetry and prose writing after her son's death. She had a mentor who urged her to use her deep voice, and she does. There is a liberal sprinkling of her poetry throughout the book, which some readers may find enlightening. I imagine … [Read more...]
