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by Julie A. Rocco (Author)
What I Would Have Missed: Stories by Suicide Ideation, Attempt and Loss Survivors is a gathering of voices shaped by survival, struggle, love, and remembrance. Within these pages are stories shared by suicide ideation, attempt, and loss survivors offered in the words of those who lived them.
Suicide is often discussed in separate conversations: prevention, attempts, loss, recovery. In lived experience, these identities frequently overlap. Many individuals and families carry more than one of these realities at the same time. This book honors that continuum. Some of these voices once stood at the edge of their own lives. Some speak from the quiet aftermath of losing someone they love. Many carry both survival and grief in the same breath.
Within these pages, readers encounter stories of people who once questioned whether they could continue and stories from those who must now live with a future permanently shaped by loss. There are reflections on the small moments that anchor someone to stay. On the work of rebuilding. On the weight of unanswered questions. On the presence of support. On the discovery of purpose. On the long, nonlinear path of healing. The voices are diverse in age, background, geography, and circumstance, yet connected by a shared humanity.
This book does not promise solutions or offer prescriptive formulas. It offers space for truth to exist fully expressed and held. It invites recognition, reduces isolation, and encourages reaching out for support as a meaningful step toward staying. Grounded in research demonstrating that connection, belonging, and meaning-making are protective factors in suicide prevention, this collection affirms the power of lived experience as a vital component of healing.
Designed for survivors, loved ones, mental health professionals, educators, faith communities, and advocates, What I Would Have Missed: Stories by Suicide Ideation, Attempt and Loss Survivors is both deeply personal and collectively urgent. At its heart, it is a reminder that even in seasons of despair, there are connections, contributions, and moments of meaning still unfolding. Moments we do not want to miss. Moments that help us stay.
