The Blair County Department of Social Services, with help from other agencies, has launched a local version of a national program that helps people with loved ones who have died recently by suicide.

Local Outreach to Suicide Survivors (LOSS) provides “support, resources and understanding” to people left behind by suicide, with the intention of instilling hope and a sense of normalcy, while “interrupt(ing) the multi-generational impact of risk that survivors are often reported to have as a legacy of suicide,” according to the lossteam.com website, which credits Dr. Frank Campbell of Baton Rouge, La., for developing the program model.

The Blair County department has created five two-person teams, each consisting of someone who themselves were left behind by suicide, along with a “caring” person, said Cindy James, the department’s mental health program coordinator, and Nikki McHugh, mental health program specialist.

The local program started at the beginning of September, although it hasn’t been called to action yet.

The plan is for the county coroner to notify the program when a suicide occurs, for the coroner to ask those left behind by the suicide whether they would like a visit from a LOSS team and, if so, for the team to make contact.

In addition to understanding, especially from the team member who has experienced such an event themselves, the team provides the survivor with a “care bag” that includes a teddy bear and other small items, according to James and McHugh.

The teams’ interventions are “proactive,” but non-intrusive, according to the website.

Research shows that such support for survivors in the aftermath of suicide reduces the chance of survivors dying by suicide themselves at some later date, according to James.

The national program calls its practices “postvention as prevention.”

“A LOSS team can provide a lifeline to the newly bereaved,” the website states. “Through shared understanding and experience, LOSS team volunteers can be a calming and reassuring presence.”

Campbell has worked with suicide survivors since 1986, launching the first LOSS team in Baton Rouge in 1998, according to the website.

Campbell started the program after his research showed that it took an average of 4.5 years for survivors to reach out for help, according to the website.

“During those years, many survivors suffered in silence and developed unhealthy coping skills,” the website states.

Campbell has conducted training throughout the U.S. and internationally to help others create LOSS programs, according to the website.

Several members of the county Social Services Department participated in a training under Campbell in Harrisburg at the end of August, according to James and McHugh.

Blair is the fifth county in Pennsylvania to have started a LOSS team, according to James and McHugh.

In Blair County, there were 30 reported suicides in 2021; 24 in 2022; 17 in 2023; and 23 in 2024, according to James and McHugh.

Gunshots are the most common method used, according to James and McHugh.

Males aged 36 to 65 are the most common demographic.

The county’s Suicide Prevention Task Force, a key participant in forming the new program, has worked with several local bars on suicide prevention, distributing coasters labeled with the 988 suicide and crisis lifeline number and posters to be attached to restroom walls, according to James and McHugh.