ABOUT

What is a LOSS team?

At the most basic level, a LOSS team involves staff and volunteers reaching out to those who lose a loved one to suicide. In order to promote a healthier recovery from the loss, the LOSS team provides the bereaved with emotional support, access to resources, and regular check-ins.

Where does this idea come from? Is it evidence-based?

Frank R. Campbell, Ph.D., LCSW, CT, implemented the first LOSS team in Louisiana in 1998. His goal was to shorten the time between a death by suicide and survivors getting help to cope with their grief. Campbell’s concept involved recruiting two types of volunteers—those who had previously lost a loved one to suicide and mental health professionals—to arrive on the scenes of suicides, help the bereaved to stabilize, and then stay in touch to connect them with relevant resources. The idea proved to be incredibly successful. Research has shown that the LOSS team model can drastically reduce the time it takes for the bereaved to reach out to mental health resources. In fact, those who received the LOSS team intervention reached out within 39 days on average compared to 4.5 years for those who did not receive the intervention! Given the fact that those who lose a loved one to suicide are up to 10 times more likely to die by suicide themselves, this decreased lag time can save lives. For more information on Campbell’s research, you can visit lossteam.com/LOSSteamOVERVIEW.pdf.

Sweetwater County LOSS Team: A Work in Progress

We do not yet have a full LOSS team in Sweetwater County. We have launched this site to provide immediate resources to survivors as we work on recruiting and training volunteers to do outreach. Below is our plan for progressing and developing the team.

Provide QR code cards to first responders and others likely to interact with recently bereaved survivors of suicide loss. These QR code cards will easily take survivors to our site, where they can access relevant local and online resources.
Recruit and train volunteers who have been affected by suicide loss or have studied it in a professional capacity in order to provide a delayed response. Delayed response means meeting with the bereaved within hours or days of their loss to provide emotional support and connect them with relevant resources.
Build a confidential database of survivors so that the team can regularly reach out at 1 week, 1 month, 3 months, 6 months, 9 months, and one year after the survivor's loss to check in and provide support.
Coordinate with local first responders and train a team to do immediate LOSS response. Immediate response means having volunteers arrive on the scenes of suicide deaths to provide stabilization and practical support to the recently bereaved.