Connect with West Michigan Survivors of Suicide Loss

Welcome to our newly updated West Michigan Survivors of Suicide Loss (WMSOSL) website. We’re pleased to have more ways to connect with you and keep you informed.

It’s been a long few months and we deeply miss our members. Because of COVID-19, we temporarily paused our support group meetings. While not ideal, we know that adhering to executive orders and social distancing protocol is the safe thing to do. Yet, all of our Board members are also loss survivors and know all too well that meetings during these uncertain times are needed now more than ever.

Adapting in the COVID-19 Era

That said, we have kept quite busy behind the scenes. We took this period as a challenge to step up our game. We’ve explored a variety of ways to grow, continue supporting you, and build connections with even more local survivors. Here are some of the ways we’ve adapted:

• To more clearly distinguish the group as a resource for loss survivors, we’ve updated our name and logo to “West Michigan Survivors of Suicide Loss.”
• You’re also reading this on our new website, which features a new landing page link, wmsosl.com. This site is where we’ll share regular blog posts, meeting location updates, and details on the Annual Conference.
• Until we can meet in person again (at our usual location at Park Congregational Church in downtown Grand Rapids, 7:00 PM every second Thursday of the month), we are planning to go virtual with Zoom. More details on this will be shared soon.
• We established a new e-mail address, group@wmsosl.com

Additionally, if you have been with us in the past you will be receiving a flyer in the postal mail requesting your email address so that we will be able to communicate with you much more effectively. We launched an e-newsletter and will share updates with you electronically. You can also subscribe by submitting your name and e-mail address via any of the forms on this website. Or, simply send us your name and contact information in an email to group@wmsosl.com.  We will not disclose or sell any email addresses to any other group or organization.

WMSOSL Is Here for You

If you are new to the tragedy of suicide loss, despair may feel like your constant companion. But we hope you find some time to rest your burden and share it with those of us who need no explanation.

Our support group has a long history here in West Michigan dating back to 1978 when our founder, Ethel Bucek, suffered the tragic loss of her son Brian. From that point on, Ethel dedicated herself to serving others, both through her nursing career and her day-to-day life. She was one of the rocks on which WMSOSL was founded and a person filled with wisdom and kindness, who gave her support to so many for more than 22 years.

Though her shoes and the others who followed, including Jim Sailors, will be hard to fill, we will try our best to continue Ethel’s legacy and compassion by supporting all of us who became members of this unenviable group.

We’ll be in touch,

Jim Musial

WMSOSL President

Board of Directors

group@wmsosl.com