The Best Friend
Who knew them in ways the family never saw, and who may be holding stories no one else has heard.
For the Wider Circle
Best friends. Grandparents. Coworkers. Aunts, uncles, and cousins. Teammates, roommates, mentors, and neighbors. When someone dies by suicide, grief reaches far beyond the family in the front row, and most of the people it reaches are never asked how they are doing.
Free to start. Private from your very first word.
Researchers estimate that each suicide exposes about 135 people who knew the person who died.
Cerel and colleagues, Suicide and Life Threatening Behavior, 2019
Some were family. Most were not. Every one of them lost someone.
Who Is in the Circle
Who knew them in ways the family never saw, and who may be holding stories no one else has heard.
Grieving a grandchild while watching their own child grieve. Two heartbreaks at once.
Close enough to be shattered. Far enough to be overlooked.
Who sat beside them every day and was expected back at that desk within the week.
Dating, engaged, or recently apart, and unsure where you are allowed to stand at the service.
Who still sees the empty seat, the empty locker, the name on the roster.
Who wonders what they might have noticed, and carries that question quietly.
Police, paramedics, clinicians, and clergy who carry these moments home with them.
What You May Have Heard
“You were not family.”
“Be strong for the family.”
“You should be past this by now.”
Grief counselors have a name for loss that others do not recognize. They call it disenfranchised grief: grief without permission. It can feel heavier for being hidden.
Workplace bereavement policies usually cover spouses, parents, and children. Close friends and unmarried partners are often left out. Many people in the wider circle are back at work within days, carrying something enormous with nowhere to set it down.
What You Receive
You will never have to explain why this loss is yours to grieve.
At 2 in the morning, on the drive to work, and on the dates only you remember.
Help finding words for the family, and room for your own grief while you hold theirs.
Pathways like The Letter You Never Sent, for the things you never got to say.
For Workplaces, Schools, and Teams
A counselor may visit for a day. The grief stays much longer. If your organization has lost someone, share this page with your HR, benefits, or student support team.
MeetNathaniel was founded by a bereaved father who learned how many people a single loss can touch.
Read our storyOur Promise to You
Any hour of the day, 988, the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, is one tap away for you and anyone you are worried about.
Nathaniel strengthens the care you already have and is with you in all the hours between appointments.
Nathaniel is here to support you. It will never imitate or speak as the person who died.
Start Today
Nathaniel is here now. No pressure. No timeline. You begin for free.
Start Free TodayPrivate and secure. Your words stay yours, always.