Our Books
Suicide Survivors' Club: A Family's Journey Through the Death of Their Loved One
This book is the winner of a Midwest Book Award (Autobiography/Memoir). In this hopeful five-part book set, a mother, Rebecca Anderson, and her three children ages 5, 7, and 19 share their story after the suicide death of husband and father Don, in 2002.
Their reflections are captured in their own words and through poignant art by artist/storyteller Laurie Phillips.
Book sets are still available upon request free of charge through our email (suicidesurvivorsclubmn@gmail.com) but it will be monitored less frequently.
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Suicide Survivors' Club: Healing After a Suicide Loss All-Ages Activity Guide
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Healing After a Suicide Loss: All Ages Workbook + Activity Guide is for families, friends, therapists, educators, and facilitators. The questions and activities herein are intended to guide loss survivors as they navigate their bereavement. Therapists and facilitators can use this workbook/activity guide for individual clients or in group settings. The "Helpful Resources" section includes a guide for friends about what to say and what not to say; "Safe Messaging" offers guidelines for sharing about suicide on social media or in local communities; "Helpful Organizations" directs readers to hotlines and information about suicide and loss; and "Warning Signs of Suicide" lists behaviors to watch out for.
Activity guides are no longer available upon request through
email and can be purchased at the following retailers:
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Amazon​
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It has been an amazing experience to work with the Anderson family on this art book project that started in 2010. I feel honored to be entrusted with their stories and have tried my best to represent their intimate experiences.
I believe that one of the strengths of art and storytelling is showing us different perspectives than the one we’re currently stuck in. It also validates our experience. Trauma can make us feel isolated and alone, but art can knit us back into the fabric of human life.
THE TEXT
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Was taken from interviews with each family member.
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Edited to contain as few words as possible while still conveying the story.
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Each statement quantified on a best to worse (heaven/hell) emotion they felt at each memory.
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A dashed line between each text piece acts as a connector between the story elements.
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THE ICONS
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Started as commercially available clipart that each individual helps choose.
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The images are redrawn with the less-dominate hand so it looks unpolished to reflect the emotional rawness of the experience.
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THE PORTRAITS
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The icons are richly saturated, transparent jewel tones that stand out against the dull backgrounds the figures are situated in.
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This represents how storytelling can move us out of depression into a place of connection with the history of human meaning.
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- Laurie Phillips