In 2022, 49,476 Americans died by suicide. Those deaths, along with an estimated 1.6 million suicide attempts, resulted in suicide being the 11th leading cause of death nationwide.

September is National Suicide Prevention Month, bringing attention to the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP) and its resources. Outreach is also expanding at the state and local levels, including in St. Joseph County, Michigan.

Local Outreach to Suicide Survivors (LOSS) teams exist nationally. A grant received in the fall of 2023 helped establish St. Joseph County’s LOSS team, which is expected to have an unofficial launch in January 2025.

“We have been intentionally building a team over the last year,” Ben Karle said. “We’ve gone through a series of training with the national LOSS team model and the State of Michigan’s suicide task force. There’s coordinators on both ends who have trained our team leaders throughout this past year. We’ve been going slow to go fast.”

Karle coordinates the St. Joseph County ISD’s behavioral health program. He is also a member of the county suicide task force, which was formed after a series of youth suicides.

“People gathered in the basement of the county courthouse to find out what we can do,” Karle recalls.

St. Joseph County was one of six Michigan counties to receive funding for a LOSS team in 2023. Suicide prevention and outreach for suicide survivors is intended for multiple local populations, including youth, older adults, farmers, veterans, sportsmen, and more, Karle said. He explained LOSS’ structure.

“It’s a postvention, peer-based model. After an individual dies by suicide, volunteers that have been trained provide support to the newly bereaved. Ideally, they are doing so at the scene or as close to the scene of the death, ideally as soon as possible,” Karle said.

One of LOSS’s main initiatives is its volunteer recruitment and training process. There are multiple ways to be a LOSS volunteer.

“Some of our volunteers are going to be going out as on-scene volunteers, providing immediate support to the newly bereaved. Typically, the volunteers that go out are going to be suicide survivors themselves, who have lost loved ones to suicide,” Karle said.

LOSS teams are intended to provide a place for everybody. Volunteers can also help with organization, training, fundraising, and following up, including sending cards to loved ones on the anniversary of a suicide.

“What we’ve been doing the past year is setting up the process intentionally,” Karle said. “We have volunteers fill out the interest form, then they have an interview and complete an application. After the references check, we have them sign a code of conduct before we go over the volunteer expectations.”

From there, the volunteers receive full skills training. This includes completing online modules on psychological first aid.

“It’s really about trying to equip our volunteers with as much support as they need,” Karle said. “It’s a very heavy job, going out to these scenes that are traumatic for all. A huge part of the model is having a debriefing for the team that goes out.”

As much as LOSS organizers and supporters would like to be fully available and established, Karle is glad so much time since 2023 has been spent on the team’s training, and how it will handle post-suicide situations.

“There’s no other grief like suicide,” he said. “Right now, we have some people who are mental health professionals on our team. We have community members who have lost loved ones to suicide, along with volunteers who work with youth and volunteers who work with other adults.”

LOSS is building its relationships with law enforcement, central dispatch, and victim services, establishing how they can all work together to provide support in St. Joseph County. In the meanwhile, LOSS has been participating in local events like the Third Annual Walking Along Suicide Prevention (W.A.S.P.) 5K, held earlier in September, and Three Rivers Pride, held in June.

“We’re looking forward to our first annual LOSS team fundraiser concert, which will be on May 17, 2025, at The Huss Project,” Karle said. “More details will come soon.”

If you or someone you know needs help, “988” is a three-digit, nationwide phone number to connect directly to the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline.

Frank Stanko is a staff writer for Watershed Voice.