tripperfunster

No, not on how to do it.

A friend of mine is dealing with the suicide of one of his employees. This person had worked for him for many years, manning the phones and doing much of the paperwork and stuff.

This year my friend decided to take on that job himself, thinking he could save the company some money.

And yeah, that employee, who was not hired back this year killed himself. He had always been a bit of a loner, and my friend knew that ending the job would be hard on him, but he obviously never expected this person to commit suicide. He had actually talked to him about possibly working part time, but too little, too late, I suppose.

And now, understandibly, my friend is just gutted with guilt over this.

I spoke with him about how I understand his guilt, and of course ANYONE would feel guilty in this circumstance, but that he needed to realize that the only person responsible for this suicide was the person who did it. Anyone who knows/loves/is related to/married to/works with someone who dies this way questions themselves. What could they have done differently? What if they hadn't said A or B? etc.

It's a natural response, but in the end, they cannot be responsible for someone else's life.

I'm not sure if this helped or not, and uh ... being a DUDE, it's really hard to say what's going on with him emotionally.
he DID ask me what he should tell people who ask about what happened, and I told him that all he needs to say is that X took his own life.

Any advice from people with more experience? Obviously, it's a horrible thing, no matter how you slice it, but is there any way to ease the guilt that my friend is feeling?

Thanks in advance.