SEE
US
Meet the team that keeps our group functioning, plans community events, and researches partnerships and organizations to support the MSL community. The committee also plans and facilitates group meetings, meets new members individually, and shares resources.
January 2018: Brittany lost her dad and stepmother in a Murder-Suicide
July 4, 2018: Sara lost her brother and his fiance in a Murder-Suicide
July 4, 2019: Sara created My Grief Connection
Sept 2019: Sara first shared her murder-suicide loss story publicly at the Strength2Thrive walkathon
June 21, 2020: Brittany published her essay, "Breaking the Silence As A Survivor of Murder-Suicide Loss" - https://www.taps.org/articles/2020/murder-suicide-loss
July 2020: Sara found Brittany's essay online
August 2020: Sara & Brittany connected for the first time via email
August 15, 2020: Sara & Brittany had their first Zoom meeting together
October 25, 2020: Sara & Brittany had a Zoom meeting to organize the first meeting for the Survivors of Murder-Suicide Loss Group
November 13, 2020: Sara & Brittany hosted the first Survivors of Murder-Suicide Loss Group meeting online via Zoom with five survivors in attendance
THEIR STORY, OUR STORY
FOUNDING MEMBERS
Brittany Noble McCarthy
article: Breaking the Silence as a Survivor of Murder-Suicide Loss
Sara Cobb
https://www.mygriefconnection.org/
BOARD MEMBERS
Connie Harrington
Secretary
Connie lost her former husband to his brother, who then took his own life, in July 2016 in a small Virginia town. Her two young children were seven and 10 at the time of the loss. Six years into her survivor journey, she found the MSL community. From her first meeting, she felt enriched and strengthened by hearing stories of MSL survivors who had walked a similar path.
Today, Connie is a researcher and writer, mom and cat mom, and a MSL group facilitator. She serves on the leadership team for her area's Trauma Informed Community Network, part of a Virginia-wide initiative to raise trauma awareness and build more resilient communities throughout the state.
Mitch Maryanov
President
Mitch Maryanov is a retired carpenter who lost his parents to murder-suicide in 1990. He looks forward to meeting people with whom he can connect who may understand how this affects survivors like us. He states, "My story begins on August 10, 1990. I was called by a family friend to see why my parents had been unreachable for 2 days. I went to their house and found them in the master bedroom. My father had shot my mother then himself. From the moment I found them life was forever changed." Mitch is a member of this community’s Steering Committee and volunteers his time to helping other survivors move forward after their losses.
Jenna Howe
Treasurer
Jenna was 36 when she lost her mother in 2022 to her brother, the perpetrator, who she then lost two days later. Jenna also lost a pregnancy in the weeks following the murder-suicide. Jenna credits finding and joining the support group within the first weeks out from her loss as a major factor in her resilience.
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Jenna is now a mother, a writer, an advocate for mental health reform, and especially enjoys giving back to the survivor community.
SEE US IN ACTION
