ABSTRACT
This chapter addresses adult sibling grief after suicide with reference to a relational, meaning-making model of suicide bereavement: the walking in the shoes model (Sands, 2009; Sands, Jordan, & Neimeyer, 2011). Adult sibling bereavement is the least researched familial relationship of loss. However, available research stresses that siblings occupy an irreplaceable position in each other’s lives and that, importantly, this connection is potentially one of the longest relationships in a person’s life (Forward & Garlie, 2003; Robinson & Mahon, 1997; Rostila, Saarela, & Kawachi, 2012). As children move from childhood to adolescence and adulthood, siblings are a companion and witness to family dynamics and events over an extended period of time. In general, siblings hold unique perspectives and manylayered memories of each other’s lives that authenticate a sense of self (Hogan & deSantis, 1992; Riches & Dawson, 2000).
