Many crisis centers that operate 24-hour suicide prevention hotlines also provide grief counseling to people who are mourning a death. That’s because many people who have lost a loved one to suicide are more at risk for suicide themselves.

The crisis center I directed provided individual counseling and also operated multiple grief support groups. Four of the groups were for survivors of suicide—parents who lost children, youths who lost parents, individuals who lost partners, and others who lost siblings or friends because of suicide. Typically, there were 15 to 20 people in each of these four groups, although sometimes the number was greater, and we needed extra facilitators.

The first night of each group was memorable for one main reason. Upon entering the room, many people gasped. They couldn’t believe that so many other people were there, that so many others had experienced the same tragedy they had experienced, the suicide of a loved one. Until that moment, they felt completely alone.

Our grief counseling director, who was a nationally recognized death educator, started every first night the same way: “I’m so sorry that........

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