Workshop on helping the bereaved by suicide

When someone has died by suicide, how do you support the people coping with the loss?
When someone has attempted suicide, how do you support the attempter and his/her family?

Learn from two experts in the suicide field how you can help people grieving the loss of suicide or a suicide attempt. What do you say? What can you do? What are the resources available? This workshop is geared toward lay people (churches, community-service organizations, family members, and anyone else who might come in contact with people coping with suicide).

“The Aftermath of Suicide:
Supporting People Coping With Suicide Loss, Suicide Attempters and their Families"


Michelle Linn-Gust, Ph.D.
Michelle is the president-elect of the American Association of Suicidology and an international speaker and writer about suicide postvention and prevention issues. She is the author of Do They Have Bad Days In Heaven? Surviving the Suicide Loss of a Sibling and Ginger’s Gift: Hope and Healing through Dog Companionship. She also is a co-founder of the New Mexico Suicide Prevention Coalition.


JoAnn Sartorius, L.I.S.W.
JoAnn's work with high-risk adolescents and their families spans 30 years.
For the last decade, she has concentrated on suicide prevention as well as addressing the aftermath of suicide. Currently, JoAnn works throughout the state as a program coordinator and trainer for school-based suicide prevention programs, is a member of a suicide crisis response team, and presents educational workshops on suicide prevention for youth, school personnel and communities. JoAnn is a co-founder of the New Mexico Suicide Prevention Coalition.


August 25th, 10:00 am to 1:00 pm
Los Griegos Community Center
1231 Candelaria NW
Albuquerque, NM 87107

Cost for the workshop is $40

Minimum number of participants is 30, maximum is 50.

Registration online at www.chelleheadworks.com
Questions? Email: info@chelleheadworks.com

Article from Australia that quotes me

This article just appeared June 11 (although it's still June 10 here in New Mexico!) in Australia.

Richard Stubbs radio show in Melbourne

The link will let you listen to the Richard Stubbs radio show that I appeared on in Melbourne. I think he did a great job with the topic, especially since he hasn't been touched by suicide in his life. He really had a clue.

Home Sweet Home

Unfortunately, due to the cost of the internet at the hotel (about $23 US a day which is the most I've ever seen) and the poor public wireless access, I couldn't blog the rest of the trip. The conference went well although I will say it was pretty nutty few days and I'm not sure when I would have blogged anyway! I did one last interview for Sky Television on Friday and gave three talks on Saturday (a plenary, a workshop session on families and pets helping people cope, and then spoke at the remembrance and healing service). Saturday night I had dinner with Frank Campbell and several Living Works people. I ordered the flounder and we all were surprised when my plate appeared with a rather large flounder on it while all the others ordered fish and got these little squares! Needless to say, fish isn't on my list for a while. I also fell in love with sticky date pudding and had that for a second time that night. Thanks to Susan Beaton for introducing me to it! I'm sure I'll figure out how to make it myself. I flew from Melbourne to Sydney and then Sydney to San Francisco on Sunday. I was in the first row of economy which meant I had a little more room. There was a baby next to me who managed to hardly to cry at all during the flight (ah....). He spent part of the night running his fingers across the sleeve of my fleece pullover. I was back in ABQ at 5:00 pm and we headed straight to Frontier for dinner. Suffering from some jet lag (it's now 4:11 am!) and it'll take me a few days to unpack but I always find it amazing how much my world gets smaller each time I travel. I'm incredibly grateful for the opportunity to take this trip and to spend time with people I knew as well as get to know new people. One woman who heard me on the radio (where I mentioned facebook) friended me and came to the healing service. She lost her younger sister two years ago. It's all about connecting people because that's how we find hope.

Radio in Melbourne

Today was the pre conference and I did some radio this afternoon which went really well. We had a full hour and the host was great- Richard Stubbs. A woman called in and you could hear a little dog barking in the background. She then went on to say that her sister had just died and the funeral is tomorrow. They had the dog with them and she said she had a sense of her sister being with her because of that. Sadly, the dog wasn't enough to sustain her sister her in life but she will be a connection to her as time goes by.

Interviews and flying to Melbourne

I ran in the rain this morning in the park by the hotel. There were lots of dogs! Of course none of them were mine. I'm sure as I ran, mine were snoozing in their various spots at home in Albuquerque. I did a newspaper interview and just did a radio interview. One more radio interview before I head to the airport to fly to Melbourne. This last radio interview was from Nowra about two hours south of Sydney on the coast. He asked me about the gun laws and gun lobby in the US. The public relations people, I feel, have somewhat sensationalized the whole piece about guns in schools and such to the radio and tv people. I answer any questions that I am asked but I am always hesitant when it comes to such political issues, especially when I'm in a different country (I almost single-handedly started the troubles again in Northern Ireland during a session I did there when we were discussion religion...religion always gets me in trouble!). Also, my work is more on the postvention side, helping people cope after the suicide. I had to set the producer straight at the Kerri-Anne show that I was not here to discuss prevention (they were going to ask me about warning signs). I'm all about helping people survive their losses to live hopeful lives again.

The Rest of the Day

After the show, I returned to the hotel to shower and get some breakfast (well, it was really lunch by then). I had to be at ABC (the Australian Broadcasting Company) in the afternoon to do a radio interview but had some time so I walked over to King's Cross as my sunglasses had gotten scratched. I bought some new ones at a store across from one that said "Show Girls Fully Licensed." I felt like I was in New Orleans. Then I stumbled on St. Mary's Cathedral where I made my mom proud by stopping for a prayer and to light a candle. I also bought a Pope Benedict pen because I had an idea and wanted to write it down. Any takers on my pen?! It was cheap, too. Less than $2.00 US. Anyway, I bought a rosary as well. I returned to the hotel to catch a cab to ABC where I did the interview in a turdis booth. The radio show was out of Tasmania so they hooked me up here in Sydney. Tonight I am trying to do some catch up as I have two radio interviews, a newspaper reporter interview, the flight to Melbourne, and dinner with friends tomorrow night in Melbourne. The radio interviewer said that she was glad we weren't doing tv because it's difficult when we have tears streaming down our faces. I've been referred to as "Dr. Michelle" all week. The photos are taken from the roof of the hotel overlooking the harbor. I was tempted to swim since the pool is heated but it was too windy and I dreaded getting out. Maybe if I'd had a thick robe....

Dr. Sally Witt radio show

I will be appearing on the Dr. Sally Witt radio show tomorrow (Wednesday, April 29). The info is linked here. Check out an interview we did on you tube: Interview #2.