ABSTRACT
The family network plays a central part in some people’s lives, while in others, family members may have little regular contact with one another. Whichever is the case, though, our place in the family contributes to our sense of identity. We are a son or daughter, perhaps also someone’s brother or sister; as adults, we may have established our own family, creating new identities-husband or wife, and father or mother. Whatever our place in the family, when one of its members dies, it will affect us. With one exception, the people whose stories are told here included parents, siblings, children and spouses of people who had died by suicide. It is the particular issues facing these groups which are the subject of this chapter.
