No death is harder to comprehend than suicide. Here, an experienced pastoral theologian and the founder of Olly’s Future, a charity to raise suicide awareness, set up after her son’s suicide aged 22, combine their wisdom to offer a practical and supportive guide to all affected by suicide and those who counsel them.
•Over 6000 people take their own life every year in the UK and 50,000 in the US. It is the largest killer of males under 50. •Blending theological insight with personal experience, this meets a profound, but poorly provisioned need for pastoral and practical understanding and support. No death is harder to comprehend than suicide. Its devastation extends beyond the circle of family and friends and affects whole communities. Those affected by it frequently say there is nowhere to turn in its aftermath and resources for pastoral support are thin on the ground. Questions remain unanswered for ever. Here, an experienced pastoral theologian and the founder of Olly’s Future, a charity to raise suicide awareness, set up after her son’s suicide aged 22, combine their wisdom to offer a practical and supportive guide to all affected by suicide and those who counsel them. Part One offers an overview from three perspectives: pastoral engagement with suicide, the experience and reality of suicide, an appraisal of theological and pastoral responses to the questions suicide raises. Part Two offers testimonies from those who have lost a family member or friend and those who attempted suicide but lived to tell the story, with reflections from Samuel Wells. Part Three offers liturgical and devotional resources and insights gained from the work of Olly’s Future.
