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About MSL Network
MSL Network is a national nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting survivors of murder-suicide loss. We believe that no one should have to navigate the trauma and grief of this experience alone. Through peer support, education, advocacy, sharing our stories, and trusted resources (adults & adolescents), we help survivors find connection, healing, and hope while working to increase awareness and understanding of murder-suicide loss.
Our Mission
MSLN's mission is to support survivors of murder-suicide loss. We provide peer-led support groups and resources to help survivors heal and find solace.
Our Vision
MSLN's vision is to be found easily by all survivors of murder-suicide loss.
We hope to bring more workshops to offer specialized support along with our weekly online support group.
We hope we can get funding to create a foundation to support survivors who could not otherwise access mental health support.
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We are striving to bring in-person support beyond Massachusetts and into other states.
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We hope to be involved as a resource on all major suicide-loss and awareness organizations.
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We hope to help emergency call centers and first responders ask the right questions and save lives.
Why We Started
Before MSLN, there was no place for survivors of murder-suicide loss to connect or share stories or resources.
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In 2020, two women, Brittany and Sara, connected over their mutual stories of loss to murder-suicide. ​Brittany's article https://www.taps.org/articles/2020/murder-suicide-loss
They held the first known murder-suicide loss support group on November 13, 2020.
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In the spring of 2023, after both of our founders decided to focus their attentions elsewhere, a small group of survivors wanted to make sure that survivors were not left without support. We continue to hold peer support groups every week.
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Why Specialized Support Matters
Being a survivor of murder-suicide loss comes with complicated feelings including complex grief, anger, and shock. Most survivors are connected to both the victim and the aggressor, we lost two or more people we loved deeply and one of them took the other's life. It is difficult to talk to other people for fear of their reactions but also because of our own internalized shame and stigma that comes with loving someone who did something violent before taking their own life.
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Being in a support group with other survivors offers a deeply empathetic and compassionate experience. Our feelings are safe with each other, no matter how similar, or different, our stories and emotions are. We can talk with people all over the country about our losses knowing we are in a safe space.
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Meeting other murder-suicide loss survivors in person is even more powerful because there is nothing between us, like a computer screen.
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We hold space for each other, cry with each other, and find comfort in the presence of others who truly understand our losses.
Meet Our Team
Our Values
We strive to uphold our community values of compassion for all survivors of murder-suicide loss. This includes survivors of attempts, and the communities we lost our loved ones in.
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Community is our core value. We want to continue to be a place of solace, healing, and strength for anyone who is struggling after a murder-suicide loss.
Get Involved!
Murder-Suicide is a type of suicide where the person intentionally kills one or more people before themselves.
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What is a Survivor?
A survivor is someone affected by a murder-suicide. If you have lost a friend, family member, or community member in a murder-suicide (or attempt) YOU ARE A SURVIVOR.
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There are about 10 murder-suicides every week.
Each event directly effects about 12 people.
This means about 6,250 people a year need support and resources.
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We believe that support can be found in a community of others who have experienced this type of loss.
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Our support groups are open to all survivors of murder-suicide loss, or attempts.
We are supported by a variety of mental health professionals to bring new support workshops and help us advocate for survivors of MSL.
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You are not alone. We are here to support you.
We do not judge a person by their final act.
What is Murder-Suicide?
Frequently Asked Questions
