Working with children affected by suicide – part one

What are some of the concerns parents have for their children when they have been affected by the suicide of a loved one? What are some of the ideas and practices practitioners can draw upon when working with children and families during such difficult times?  

In this two-episode series, we speak with Ben Shannahan, a narrative family therapist with Anglicare’s CYPRESS service in Western Australia, about working therapeutically with children, young people and their families when they are impacted by the suicide of a loved one. 

In this episode you will learn about how to: 

• respond to the concerns of parents and caregivers about children impacted by suicide [01:38]

• support children and young people to ‘make sense’ of the suicide [05:38]  

• understand and honour the relationship between the child and the person who has died [11:36]

• begin the consultation with the child and family [16:40]
   

Further information and resources:

Engaging children (online learning pathway) – Emerging Minds

Below are some books and resources that the CYPRESS team have found useful in their postvention work with children, young people and families. Not all are suicide-specific but are related to helping families makes sense of experiences of grief:

• Tell me what happened – Suicide Support Services  
• Rafi’s Red Racing Car: Explaining suicide and grief to young people by Louise Moir
• The Invisible String by Patrice Karst and Joanne Lew-Vriethoff
• One Wave at a Time: A story about grief and healing by Holly Thompson
• Let’s Talk about It: A guide for talking to children after a suicide of a loved one by Laura Camerona
• When a Friend Dies: A book for teens about grieving and healing by Marilyn Gootman
• Why?: A story for kids who have lost a parent to suicide by Melissa Allen Health and Frances Ives
• After a Parent’s Suicide: Helping children heal by Margo Requarth
• Grief is an Elephant by Tamara Ellis Smith and Nancy Whitesides