The aim of IPGV is, as our name says, to prevent gun violence. How do we prevent suicidal gun violence? One way is called postvention: addressing the needs of family members who suffer the pain and grief of the death of one close to them, whether it is a parent, spouse, sibling, child, or other relative, for these family members have become a higher risk group.

Recognizing this, the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP) six years ago began a teleconference program on the Saturday before Thanksgiving, addressed specifically to the needs of suicide survivors. The number of downlinks has grown from ten the first year to several hundred this year. Iowa had its first downlink and associated conference last year in Iowa City at the University of Iowa, attended by about 30 survivors. This year two sites hosted conferences – Des Moines University and Kirkwood Community College in Cedar Rapids. Gordon Miller, with the Victim Protection Services program in Polk County organized the Des Moines conference, while Nancy Oehlert with Foundation2 in Cedar Rapids organized the one at Kirkwood. Between the two conferences 69 people were able to hear and to share what it meant to them. That leaves 12,901 survivors of suicides over the past 6 years in Iowa, who did not attend such a conference. We hope that next year there will be four or more such downlinks and conferences across the state, which hundreds will attend.

Common elements of the conferences were, of course, the AFSP teleconference, and a survivor’s panel. In Des Moines Jeremy Brigham, the Suicide Prevention Strategy coordinator, delivered a plenary address speaking to the special nature of grief for those surviving suicide, and mentioning some positive developments in youth suicide prevention in Iowa this past year. Following the downlink program, survivors of different relationships met together – those that lost parents in one group, children in another, spouses in a third, siblings in a fourth, and others in a fifth group. Finally a panel of survivors shared their experiences with the whole group. The participants were mainly from the Des Moines area, but also from Northwood and Mason City to the north, and from Osceola and Chariton to the south.

The Cedar Rapids conference featured a professional panel of a funeral director, a detective, a survivor group coordinator, a family therapist and a hospital chaplain. Two of the professionals were themselves survivors. Participants came not only from the Cedar Rapids area, but also Dubuque and Burlington.

Recommendations for future conferences include more focus on the spiritual aspects of the experience, more diverse panels, and a presentation by someone who understands and has dealt with depression personally, so that those who are not depressed can understand it better. Coordinators of both conferences reported on very positive feedback from those attending. Understanding, compassion and support for survivors of suicide is a great need, and an essential part of preventing future suicides.

The use of guns for suicide did not come up directly as a topic in either conference, but in the small group discussion I attended, several mentioned that the lethal instrument was a gun. One person told of a family who wanted to keep the gun used in the suicide as a memento. Others expressed shock, supposing that such a family would want to get rid of the gun. There was interest in the possibility of providing out-of-home storage for guns during non-hunting seasons or during times of stress in families.