Michelle L. Rusk
Michelle Linn-Rusk, Ph.D., Past President of the American Association of Suicidology, has spent the past twenty years educating people worldwide about coping with loss and change following the suicide of her younger sister. Her eighth book, Conversations with the Water: A Memoir of Cultivating Hope, chronicles her grief journey as she moves forward beyond the suicide and loss field. Her first book, based on Denise’s suicide, Do They Have Bad Days in Heaven? Surviving the Suicide Loss of a Sibling, inspired siblings around the world in their survival after a loved one’s suicide. She writes the weekly Good Causes column for The Naperville Sun newspaper and helps people accomplish their goals through her life coaching practice. https://www.voiceamerica.com/episode/14201/michelle-linn-gust-surviving-the-death-by-suicide-of-a-sibling
Articles:
When a Sibling Dies by Suicide
In the initial months and years after my sister Denise died by suicide (just two weeks before her 18th birthday), I sought out as much information on sibling loss as I could. Denise was my younger sister, the one I shared a room with for 10 years, the one who knew more about me and my goals and dreams than anyone else. When she walked in front of a train near our parents’ suburban Chicago home, I was 21 and working on a journalism degree at Ball State University in Indiana. My goal from first grade on was to be […]
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Farrah, Michael, Bonnie, and Denise
By Michelle Linn-Gust — When I found out that Farrah Fawcett had anal cancer, I was taken back to the cancer of my friend, Bonnie, who died 3 1/2 years ago. I was with Bonnie almost every day, as long as I was in town, until her death a few months later. Today is my 10th wedding anniversary and it was Bonnie who sewed my wedding dress. Bonnie had the same cancer as Farrah. I had a Farrah haircut in fifth grade and my older sister was a big “Charlie’s Angels” fan. My cousins had a gerbil named Farrah. Farrah […]
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Struggling to Survive Brother’s Suicide
Janet writes in: I, along with my sister and now deceased brother, have always suffered from mental illness — hereditary-based and environmental. We grew-up in an immensely dysfunctional home, with a raging alcoholic father. My sister has bipolar disorder, and I suffer from depression. I knew my brother planned on killing himself and argued for my parents to look for him after they had had a terrible fight and he left our home in a rage. They said because he was addicted to drugs, he was on his own. He was missing for 2 weeks, until a reporter found him […]
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When a Sibling Dies by Suicide
Writer Michelle Linn-Gust shares her journey of coming to terms with the suicide of her sister
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Open to Hope is an online community offering inspirational stories of loss, hope and recovery. We believe hope is the bridge between loss and recovery.
