Franklin Cook, MA, CPC,* is the founder of Personal Grief Coaching, a telephone support service for bereaved people after a traumatic death, and the owner of Unified Community Solutions in Boston, Mass., which specializes in suicide prevention and grief support presentations and training as well as project development, management, and leadership.

He began as a volunteer peer helper with Black Hills Area Survivors of Suicide in 1999, co-facilitated the support group for 10 years, and served as a member of the Pennington County (S.D.) LOSS Team.

Franklin helped found the Front Porch Coalition in 2001, a grassroots task force in Rapid City—and served for four years as FPC's executive director. He co-authored the S.D. Strategy for Suicide Prevention and helped lead its implementation until 2010, as manager and trainer for two statewide suicide prevention projects. He is a Master Trainer for ASIST (Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training), and a veteran trainer for the Facilitating Suicide Bereavement Support Groups workshop from the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP).

Franklin was a member of the board of directors of the Suicide Preven-tion Action Network (SPAN USA) for six years. He served for two years as Director of Survivor and Bereavement Programs for SAVE (Suicide Awareness Voices of Education), and is a former member of AFSP’s Loss and Bereavement Council. He is a longtime member of the Loss Survivor Division of the American Association of Suicidology (AAS)—and was named AAS Survivor of the Year in 2013. Franklin has been a member of the Consumer-Survivor Subcommittee of the National Sui-cide Prevention Lifeline (1-800-273-TALK/8255) since 2005.

He maintains the After a Suicide Resource Directory, and is co-lead of the National Action Alliance for Suicide Prevention Survivors of Suicide Loss Task Force, which created the national guidelines Responding to Grief, Trauma, and Distress After a Suicide. He serves on the board of directors of the Alliance of Hope for Suicide Loss Survivors.

Franklin currently manages a statewide men’s suicide prevention pro-ject for the Massachusetts Department of Public Health (MassMen.org). He also created a full-day suicide prevention training for people work-ing in substance abuse treatment, which he delivers nationally.

He published the blog Suicide Prevention News and Comment through 2010 and now blogs at Grief after Suicide. Franklin is a survivor of his father's suicide in 1978.

* Franklin holds a Master of Arts degree (MA) in the humanities and is a Certified Professional Coach (CPC).