Parents of Suicides Internet Community

Parents of Suicides Internet Community (POS) is an online support group which was originally for parents who had lost sons or daughters to suicide. The primary goal of POS is to comfort those grieving for loved ones who have committed suicide.

Overview & History
Started on October 9th, 1998 POS was created by an initial group of 8-10 parents who had lost children to suicide. They were looking for other parents who had had similar tragedies in order to help everyone cope with their losses using the internet as a medium. Since then, with POS as a connecting force, they have created the first international suicide memorial quilt, a memorial website and a memorial book called Forever in Our Hearts. They’ve also written a memorial cookbook and have a private chatroom for POS members.

As the community has expanded they have branched out and in 2000 they held their first retreat in Pavo, Georgia (USA). Now they do two retreats annually in the spring and fall which are held in Columbia, Tennessee (USA). Despite the fact that the retreats are in the United States, POS has members from all over the world including France, England, Canada, Ireland, Scotland, Australia, New Zealand, Finland, Jamaica, Luxembourg, Namibia, Wales and South Africa. POS’s membership currently stands at nearly 900 members internationally.

Related Groups
Parents of Suicides is not the only group out there that can help, there are many other groups that aim to prevent suicides as well as comfort those affected by suicides.

Families and Friends of Suicides (FFOS)
A small group started September 30th, 2000; Families and Friends of Suicides was also started by people who’d lost loved ones to suicide with a broader range of membership than POS including anyone who’d been deeply affected by a suicide. Today there are around 400 members in FFOS.

American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP)
Primarily an organization that is dedicated to the research and prevention of suicide, the AFSP also provides programs for suicide survivors like the members of POS and FFOS. Additionally, they try to raise suicide awareness and also raise money for research with annual walks like “Out of the Darkness”.

Suicide Prevention Action Network (SPAN USA)
Though SPAN is dedicated to suicide prevention rather than grief support for people who make up groups like POS and FFOS, SPAN was also founded by parents grieving for a loved one who committed suicide. They focus on raising awareness and advocating change in public policy to help prevent suicide.

Yellow Ribbon (YR)
Like many of these groups, Yellow Ribbon was founded by the parents of a young man who took his life. YR is older than its counterparts POS and FFOS as it was started in 1994 they claim to have saved over two and a half thousand lives and its website has had more than 3.5 million visits.