Heartbeat — Free Suicide Loss Survivor Support Groups
Heartbeat is a national network of peer-led support groups for survivors of suicide loss, founded in 1980 in Colorado Springs by suicide loss survivor LaRita Archibald. Chapters meet across multiple states, providing free monthly support group meetings to anyone grieving a death by suicide. The organization also publishes information sheets for survivors and a leader’s guide for survivors who want to start a new chapter in their own community.
What to Expect
Heartbeat chapters typically meet monthly, often on the first Tuesday and first Wednesday of each month, in cities across Colorado and other states with active chapters. Meetings are open to all survivors and are always free. Groups are facilitated by peer leaders — fellow loss survivors who have been trained in the Heartbeat model. The format is confidential, peer-driven, and supportive: members share what they want to share, listen to one another, and build over time the kind of community that helps grief move. New members can drop in to any open meeting.
Who This Group Is For
Heartbeat welcomes anyone who has lost a loved one to suicide — parents, partners, spouses, siblings, children, friends, coworkers, and extended family. Members include people whose loss is recent and people whose loss happened years or decades ago. The peer-led format and modest monthly cadence make the program sustainable for survivors who want ongoing community without intensive weekly commitment. Heartbeat also actively supports survivors who want to start new chapters in their own community — the leader’s guide and ongoing organizational support are part of how the network has grown over more than 45 years.
Why Peer Support Works
Suicide grief is often described as a long road rather than a series of stages. Monthly peer support groups give survivors a steady rhythm — a reliable place to return to month after month, where the community knows their story and where new arrivals find others ahead of them on the same road. Heartbeat’s longevity reflects the durability of this model: many members participate for years, and many groups have multi-decade continuity.
How to Join
All Heartbeat groups are free. Visit heartbeatsurvivorsaftersuicide.org for the current list of chapters, meeting schedules, contact information for chapter leaders, and information sheets for survivors. Survivors who would like to start a new Heartbeat chapter in their own community can request the leader’s guide and organizational support through the site.