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Healing After Suicide
About our founder, Mackey Brittain
Mackey came to understand suicide loss the hard way. She lost two children to suicide, Scott in 1980 and then, Melissa in 1999. After her son, Scott, completed suicide, Mackey attended a grief class but yearned to share with others who had experienced a suicide loss. Years later when her daughter died, she found a group in Dallas where she traveled the two-hour round trip every week for eight weeks to receive the support she needed so very much. The connections she made and information she learned helped her to not only survive, but to heal.

Because she knew others in Fort Worth needed access to this kind of program, she worked to bring this group to Tarrant County in 2003. Survivors of Suicide in Dallas graciously shared their curriculum and structure to begin to offer sessions in the Fort Worth community. When the group decided to establish a Tarrant County organization, Suicide Survivors: The Healing Journey After Loss was born in 2007. After ten years of coordinating the program, Mackey passed it off for others to continue the work. Groups were conducted starting in 2013 by Trauma Support Services of North Texas for several years. After TSSNT discontinued groups for suicide survivors, volunteers who were passionate about this service for those who had experienced the devastation of a suicide loss worked to re-organize under the new name of Healing After Suicide in 2018. Mackey remains an active member of the HAS advisory board.

Our advisors have changed. Our curriculum has been revised. Our name has changed. But our mission will never change: Helping survivors find a place to Belong, Be Understood, and to Heal.

Healing After Suicide would like to thank our founders: First United Methodist Church of Fort Worth, Rev. Larry Grubb, and Mackey Brittain.
Please note: The Healing after Suicide website is not intended to provide help in a crisis. If you are feeling suicidal or need help for yourself or someone you know, please consult IASP’s Suicide Prevention Resources to find a crisis center anywhere in the world. In the US, call toll-free 1-800-273-TALK (8255) for a free suicide prevention service or visit SuicidePreventionLifeline.org.