The SSI Story

Ben, having lost two of his three brothers, Christopher Harris in 2005 and Marine LCPL Michael Harris in 2012, knows firsthand the isolation that grieving siblings often experience. Rather than let that challenge define him, he’s spent the past decade creating spaces for connection, remembrance, and resilience, ensuring that no bereaved sibling has to grieve alone. Ben’s journey into grief advocacy began just four months after Michael’s death, when he stood before 5,000 military officers, clinicians, and government officials at the 2012 DOD/VA Conference on Suicide Prevention to share his brother’s story. He went on to become deeply involved with various grief organizations, including as a peer mentor, an Atlanta-based discussion facilitator, and a media advocate, using his voice to elevate his unique perspective as a surviving sibling of military suicide loss. In 2019, Ben founded the Military Surviving Siblings, an online peer-support community for those who have lost brothers or sisters in military service. From there, his passion for grief support merged naturally with his experience as an entrepreneur, leading to his co-founding of Everly, a company that reimagined end-of-life planning and grief care by helping families pre-purchase support services for their loved ones. Away from his work, Ben facilitates sibling discussion groups at The Grief House in Decatur, GA, fostering honest conversations about grief’s complexities. Ben is a storyteller at heart, a lover of deep conversations (especially around a roaring fire pit!), and a believer in the power of shared experience to transform loss into meaning. Whether through advocacy, entrepreneurship, or quiet moments of personal connection, Ben's mission remains the same -- to help grieving siblings not only navigate their losses, but get excited about living again.

Kim is the surviving sister of US Marine Corps veteran Jon Hoffman, who died by suicide in April of 2010. Since Jon’s death, Kim’s heart has been drawn to caring for grievers, especially those who are grieving a sibling, and she has been working in the suicide prevention, intervention, and postvention field since 2011.

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A born-and-bred New Englander (though she usually tucks in her Boston accent), Kim brings both expertise and heart to her work. She has extensive experience creating trauma-informed content, programming, events, and curricula for suicide loss survivors and those who care for them. She has presented at several conferences in the US and internationally on grief, suicide loss, and post-traumatic growth, always blending deep knowledge with a practical, human-centered approach.

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Kim is currently the Senior Manager of Donor Engagement for Black Box Project at Stop Soldier Suicide, where she helps drive forward a groundbreaking initiative using digital data to inform suicide prevention efforts. Previously, she spent over 9 years at the Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors (TAPS), where she co-authored the TAPS Suicide Postvention Model and led national grief & suicide loss programs, building innovative, trauma-informed initiatives to support grieving military families.

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Outside of her professional work, Kim is an ASIST (Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training) trainer, a facilitator for online suicide loss survivor support groups, and helps lead a grief ministry at her church.

She is also a lover of dogs (especially big ones), a fan of tattoos, and while she doesn’t consider herself an adrenaline junkie, she did jump out of a plane at 14,000 feet … once (and yes, she’d do it again!).

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With a mix of compassion, humor, and real-world experience, Kim is committed to ensuring that grieving siblings have the support they need—not just to survive their loss, but to find meaning and growth in its aftermath.