Who We Are
We know this pain because we’ve lived it.
LOSS Teams SC exists to ensure that no one faces the immediate aftermath of suicide loss alone.
We are a program of the Half a Sorrow Foundation, a South Carolina–based nonprofit dedicated to improving mental health through honest conversations, connection, and compassionate care.
Our work is rooted in both professional coordination and deeply personal experience. Our founder, Dennis Gillan, lost two brothers to suicide. That reality shapes everything we do.
LOSS TEAMS SC
What We Believe
ONE
TWO
THREE
FOUR
LOSS Teams SC is built on the idea that even in the darkest moments, connection matters and showing up can make all the difference.
POSTVENTION IS PREVENTION
Every suicide leaves behind an estimated 135 people who are profoundly affected — family members, friends, coworkers, classmates.
Research tells us that people bereaved by suicide loss are themselves at significantly elevated risk for suicide. That means if we don't reach those 135 people with immediate support and connection, we may be leaving future lives in the balance.
Postvention — caring for those left behind after a suicide — is one of the most powerful prevention strategies we have. When a LOSS Team shows up, we aren't just helping someone survive their grief. We are actively reducing the risk that their grief becomes the next tragedy.
A Different Kind of Support
When families experience a suicide loss, they don’t need just information. They need presence, understanding, and hope.
That’s where we come in.
LOSS Team volunteers are trained to respond in the earliest moments of grief, offering calm, compassionate support. At least one member of every team is a survivor of suicide loss themselves—someone who understands firsthand the weight of what a family is facing. We don’t arrive with all the answers. We don’t offer empty platitudes. We simply show up as people who have walked this road and are still standing.
And in that presence, something powerful begins: the first glimpse that life, even after loss, is still possible.
Rooted in Community
LOSS Teams SC is building a new model of care across South Carolina, starting in Anderson County and expanding into surrounding communities.
We work in partnership with the following groups:
- County coroners and medical examiners
- Law enforcement agencies
- Funeral homes and care providers
- Mental health professionals
- Local organizations and community leaders
Together, we’re creating a coordinated response system so that when tragedy strikes, support is immediate, human, and accessible.