Guest post: ‘It’s time to count children who lose a parent to suicide in early years’

[NicolaDMumsnet]

When I was nine years old, my dad, Ralph, ended his own life. That loss has had a profound impact, not only on my own life, but also on the lives of those around me.

Still at junior school when my mum shared the news that was to shape the rest of our lives, I felt I was the only person this had ever happened to. None of my friends’ dads had killed themselves. They were still around to watch their children grow up.

I didn’t know what the word suicide meant. I didn’t even realise that was a thing people did. I shared my own experience of parental suicide on Radio 4’s Four Thought last year, including growing up behind the suffocating wall of silence surrounding my dad’s death and living with the far-reaching impact on my own mental health and relationships.

Almost 40 years on, I now know a lot more about suicide. As founder and CEO of Luna Foundation, I’m committed to highlighting the impact of suicide on children and young people, particularly those who lose a parent or primary caregiver at an early age.

Last May, research published in The Lancet Psychiatry revealed that children bereaved by parental suicide while aged from two to five face the most increased risk of suicide themselves. These findings came as a shock to many; it’s all too common to hear people say younger children are ‘too young to understand what happened’ or ‘they’ll just bounce back’. But the study, based on more than four million individuals, blew those assumptions out of the water. Any increase in suicide risk in young people requires our urgent attention, and it demonstrated why those bereaved by suicide in the early years must be a priority.

Last week, the government published its long-awaited Suicide Prevention Strategy for England and although children and young people are identified as a priority with measures to reduce suicides in this group, there is no provision for supporting our youngest children when a parent or carer dies by suicide in the early years.

Sadly, when a person who has children ends their own life it remains a persistent taboo. The lack of support and long-term impact of my dad’s suicide motivated me to carry out international research as a Churchill Fellow on how we can improve support and outcomes for children impacted by parental suicide. I wanted to make sure that no child felt as isolated and abandoned as I did back in 1985.

I was shocked to learn that as children who lose a parent to suicide, we’re twice as likely to be hospitalised due to depression and three times more likely to end our own lives. We know that suicide is the biggest killer of men and women under 35, and the leading cause of death for women from six weeks to 12 months after giving birth, but we don’t know how many children lose a parent by suicide in the UK as nobody counts us.

Luna is urging the government to collect and publish this data through our #TimeToCount campaign, as we urgently need to understand how and when to best support those affected. I welcome the new government push to expand mental health support teams in schools and colleges, but there’s also a need for appropriate support in early years settings. To break the chain of poor mental health and suicide risk for those who lose a parent to suicide, it’s vital that these teams receive suicide bereavement training and that all education settings have a suicide bereavement plan in place.

Everyone needs to be prepared to support children after suicide loss, to prevent them becoming our suicide statistics of the future. At Luna we’ve produced a suicide bereavement policy template for education settings and we deliver evidence-informed suicide bereavement training for people including teachers, social workers and mental health staff who work with children and young people so that they can provide timely and effective support after suicide.

We have recently developed training specifically for early years practitioners to ensure they are also prepared for when our youngest and most vulnerable children are affected. For too long this group has been overlooked. We need to join the dots between those who experience suicide, particularly the loss of a parent or primary caregiver, during childhood, and those who experience mental ill-health and later go on to end their own lives. 

The new five-year strategy recognises that the death of a parent by suicide can be ‘devastating and often have lasting effects, particularly on children from a very early stage in their development’ but there is no provision for support to mitigate long-term mental health risks.

It’s disappointing that the government has missed a valuable opportunity to improve support for children who lose a parent to suicide in the early years. Every suicide is a tragedy but failing to support the youngest and most vulnerable children left behind is inexcusable.

They need, and they deserve, better. For children who lose a parent to suicide it’s #TimeToCount.



If you are experiencing feelings of distress, or are struggling to cope, you can speak to the Samaritans, in confidence, on 116 123 (UK and ROI), email [email protected] or visit the Samaritans website to find the details of your nearest branch.

Suicide & Co offers free counselling sessions for anyone over 18 who has been
bereaved by suicide. For more information visit: https://www.suicideandco.org

Survivors of Bereavement by Suicide (SOBS) run peer-support groups both online and in-person for people over 18 who have been bereaved by suicide. Find more information here

Luna Foundation has created a library of resources focused on supporting children and young people bereaved by suicide. Visit The Hub

Anna will be returning to answer questions on Thursday 12th October 2:30pm - 4:30pm

Twitter: @annawardley
Website: teamluna.org/

[chosenone]

This is really important work. I work in education and am often shocked and overwhelmed that we have no policy on how to support students who have lost a parent this way. I am currently supporting 2 students who lost a parent this summer 😢 sadly there are 6 altogether in our school community. It isn’t as rare as people think, or maybe it’s on the increase. At the moment they all are offered bereavement counselling and then we aim to keep a normal routine

[GonnaGetGoingReturns]

There’s a neighbour in our street with a DD aged 11 and DS aged 9 (maybe 10) whose DF ended his own life earlier this year. I think the DC are coping as well as they can do, their DM’s and presumably their DF’s parents come and stay regularly (they don’t live nearby).

A family friend who’s now approx in her 60s told me when I was younger as a teenager and suffering anxiety and depression that her DF had ended his own life when she was at boarding school aged early teens.

Any bereavement is hard to deal with and bereavement counselling and a normal routine certainly helps.

[Silkiebunny]

This is very important work and it's shocking how non existent pastoral support is in some schools. I had cancer and chemo and not a single staff member helped my son, daughter got excellent support in a different school from some lovely staff and that made so much difference in outcomes. Its also important for help for autistic children or ones who cannot communicate their distress or do traditional counselling, therapy animals might help there. I know two families in which the Dad died by suicide when they were children and it's very sad the way it's taboo. So sorry for your Dad. And there's also little support for men who feel this way.

[GonnaGetGoingReturns]

@Silkiebunny , men’s suicide and depression still seems to be taboo which is appalling in this day and age.

Women are luckier on the whole as we talk more about our feelings.

Pupils definitely need more support generally around bereavement and parents’ illnesses. My DM was a primary school teacher and over 20-30 years ago a boy in her class had his DB commit suicide in the same house and very little support then too apart from via Sencos which I think she became after that incident.

[fostress]

It's terrifying how much impact adverse early experiences (without the right support for the child and their family) can have. What kind of thing does the early years training include? How can those who work in early years access this training? As a parent, can I share it with my child's nursery as something they might want staff to attend?

[Magicaljam]

We had a family friend who took his life eight years ago, and just a couple of weeks ago, his son did too, leaving his own wife and two young children. Is there any support out there for them? What can I suggest?

[Silkiebunny]

Thanks Gonna.

Re supporting a family with a suicide I found this charity online

https://uksobs.org/

I also know a family where the Dad was killed and I think they had lots of people at the start then very little so anything ongoing would be good.

[AnnaWardleyLunaCEO]

Hello everyone, it's Anna Wardley here, founder and CEO of Luna Foundation. It's great to have the opportunity to answer your questions about supporting children after suicide bereavement, particularly when a parent ends their own life. Deep gratitude to Mumsnet for shining a light on this important topic that affects many but is so often overlooked. I'll be here until 4:30pm BST to answer your questions so please do share them in the comments. For more information about the work we do at Luna to improve the support for children and young people after a parent dies by suicide visit www.teamluna.org

[spinspinsugars]

My Father committed Suicide when I was 13, although I had counselling and seemingly 'dealt' with the awful situation as a Young teenager, it has had the biggest impact on myself and my older Brother as adults, and now both Parents ourselves. It felt particularly poignant when I turned 38, the same age my Dad died. Thank you for the work you do and raising awareness for such a taboo subject x

[AnnaWardleyLunaCEO]

Thank you for your comment @chosenone:

'This is really important work. I work in education and am often shocked and overwhelmed that we have no policy on how to support students who have lost a parent this way. I am currently supporting 2 students who lost a parent this summer 😢 sadly there are 6 altogether in our school community. It isn’t as rare as people think, or maybe it’s on the increase. At the moment they all are offered bereavement counselling and then we aim to keep a normal routine.'

I'm sorry to hear that so many students in your education setting have been impacted by suicide bereavement, it must be so challenging for you as staff with no guidance on how to provide best support in these circumstances. At Luna we discovered that very few setting have a policy to cover suicide bereavement, and it is often not covered in a bereavement policy despite suicide being the leading cause of death in men and women under 35 and in men under 50, many of whom are likely to be parents to children under 18.

We have developed a Suicide Impact and Bereavement Policy template for education settings and are working in partnership with local authorities to help schools and colleges adopt this. We held a webinar to support education settings across Greater Manchester in adopting this policy last month, and more than 100 settings signed up to take part so that was heartening.

You can find out more about the training we offer for people who work with children and young people at www.teamluna.org/training and recommended resources for all age groups on our website if you click on The Hub in the main navigation.

[AnnaWardleyLunaCEO]

Thanks for sharing your experiences @GonnaGetGoingReturns:

'There’s a neighbour in our street with a DD aged 11 and DS aged 9 (maybe 10) whose DF ended his own life earlier this year. I think the DC are coping as well as they can do, their DM’s and presumably their DF’s parents come and stay regularly (they don’t live nearby).

A family friend who’s now approx in her 60s told me when I was younger as a teenager and suffering anxiety and depression that her DF had ended his own life when she was at boarding school aged early teens.

Any bereavement is hard to deal with and bereavement counselling and a normal routine certainly helps.'

You're absolutely right, suicide is very different to other types of bereavement, partly due to the sense of abandonment a child can feel and the result impact on their sense of self worth. We often hear testimonies from children who say they felt 'they weren't enough for their parent to stay alive for'. Children can often feel alienated in grief support groups when other children have experienced their parent's death by natural causes, when they would have done anything not to have left them.
The experience of the family in your street really resonates with me as I was also aged 9 when my dad ended his own life. It's had a huge impact on my life, and the lives of all those around me. There was so much stigma surrounding his death, and their was a suffocating wall of silence surrounding his death. We became estranged from his family, which so often occurs after a parent's suicide, and I have faced significant mental health struggles. It my my motivation to apply for a Churchill Fellowship to do international research on improving the support after parental suicide, and I was lucky to visit 19 porganisatuons in Australia, USA, Denamrk and Canada doing great work to support children, young people and their families after the death of a parent by suicide. I founded Luna Foundation in March 2022 to implement the findings from my report entitled Time to Count. If you are interested, you can view it via this link: https://issuu.com/annawardley/docs/churchillfellowship_timetocount_annawardley_web_pa

[AnnaWardleyLunaCEO]

Thanks for your comment @Silkiebunny

'This is very important work and it's shocking how non existent pastoral support is in some schools. I had cancer and chemo and not a single staff member helped my son, daughter got excellent support in a different school from some lovely staff and that made so much difference in outcomes. Its also important for help for autistic children or ones who cannot communicate their distress or do traditional counselling, therapy animals might help there. I know two families in which the Dad died by suicide when they were children and it's very sad the way it's taboo. So sorry for your Dad. And there's also little support for men who feel this way.'

You're so right that the support available in schools can be very inconsistent from setting to setting. At Luna, we have been carrying out research to establish how many schools have a policy in place for how they will provide support after a pupil/student loses a parent to suicide, and sadly very few do. It is important that there is a plan for how to best provide timely and effective support in these circumstances, as research shows that children and young people who experience parental suicide face significant risks to their mental health, including an increased risk of ending their own life, if appropriate support and protective factors are absent. It shouldn't come down to a postcode lottery, or relying on the kindness of individuals working within an education setting, we owe it to these young people to have a plan in place that everyone can follow. It's a difficult area for teachers, and often they don't know what best practice is in this area, so we recomend that at least one staff member from a setting takes part in suicide bereavement training. We run this as a three-hour online session so that they know how to talk about it, what specialist support they can signpost to and what resources are available. It's also important to have a policy for suicide bereavement so that everyone knows their role. Sadly there is still a lot of taboo around suicide, particularly around someone with kids ending their own life, but sadly our failure to talk about it doesn't stop it happening and it;'s estimated that 9,000 children a year lose a parent to suicide, which is 25 every single day. At Luna, we have launched a campaign to count how many children under 18 lose a parent to suicide each year, as believe it or not, that's not currently happening and it's a barrier to making sure they get the support they need and deserve. #TimeToCount

[Hanzanza]

Hi Anna, it is so important that children who lose a parents to suicide are counted so the right resources can be funded to support them, but how do we get policy makers to see parental suicide as a different bereavement to other parental loss?

[AnnaWardleyLunaCEO]

Thank you for joining the conversation @Magicaljam:

'We had a family friend who took his life eight years ago, and just a couple of weeks ago, his son did too, leaving his own wife and two young children. Is there any support out there for them? What can I suggest?'

I'm sorry to hear what your family friends are going through, especially with the young children left behind. There's a list of support available on our Luna Foundation website (we don't provide direct support ourselves as our focus is on training those who work with children and young people)via this link: https://teamluna.org/support/
Both Winston's Wish and Child Bereavement UK provide support to children and their families following suicide bereavement, and for over 18s SOBs offer nationwide peer-support groups (in-person and online) and Suicide & Co organise free counselling sessions for anyone impacted by suicide bereavement including family, friends and colleagues. All their contact information, along with other organisations providing support. Many areas have a local suicide bereavement support service providing practical and emotional support after suicide, but this varies from area to area. Your public health team at your local authority would be able to tell you who provides this service in the area where they live. You can also direct the family to The Hub section of our website which includes a range of resources for children bereaved by suicide, including illustrated/activity books for younger children.
Sadly we know that those who lose a parent to suicide face an increased risk of suicide in the absence of protective factors and timely support, but it is always so sad to hear of real-life examples like this. At Luna, we are committed to breaking the chain of poor mental health and increased suicide risk in those who lose a parent to suicide by ensuring that all those who experience parental suicide get the support they need and deserve to prevent more families going through what your friends are currently.

[kittyoake]

I work in a sixth form college - how can safeguarding leads be involved in this work to improve awareness of numbers and support for these young people?

[AnnaWardleyLunaCEO]

@Silkiebunny @GonnaGetGoingReturns

Yes, Survivors of Bereavement by Suicide (SOBS) runs peer-support groups all over the country as well as online that are open to people aged 18 and over. https://uksobs.org/

What we hear so often from people bereaved by suicide is that it is such a comfort to be around others who have experienced the same type of loss, as it is so different to other types of bereavement, so it can feel quite alienating in a regular bereavement support group.

On a personal note, I've found it so helpful to my own healing to connect with other people who lost a parent to suicide as a child in recent years through the international research I've done and also since setting up Luna. At the time I felt like I was the only person it had ever happened to, and that made me feel so isolated. At Luna we run the Luna Lived Experience Network, all of whom lost a parent to suicide as a child, and are now using their experience to help inform and guide all the work we're doing to improve the support for other children who go through the same thing.

https://teamluna.org/luna-lived-experience-network/

[MaggieGW]

Hi, I work with mothers, many of whom say things like 'it would be better if I weren't around any more', because they feel so exhausted, isolated and anxious; they don't feel they are a good mother and society can often judge struggling mothers harshly. What would be the right thing to say in these circumstances?
And also, if they are aware that their own mother struggled with depression, or even took her own life, what sort of impact would you think that has on the way they parent?

[AnnaWardleyLunaCEO]

Thanks for joining this important conversation @fostress

'It's terrifying how much impact adverse early experiences (without the right support for the child and their family) can have. What kind of thing does the early years training include? How can those who work in early years access this training? As a parent, can I share it with my child's nursery as something they might want staff to attend?'

You're absolutely right, the loss of a parent to suicide in the early years can have a devastating and long term impact without timely and effective support. Research published in The Lancet Psychiatry last year showed that children who lost a parent to suicide between the age of 2 and 5, faced the most significant increase in their own risk of ending their own life. It's worth noting that it went from a very small risk to a small risk, but I think we need to pay attention to any increased suicide risk in young people, particularly as this study also showed the risk peaking at age 15-19, which is an age group where we've seen a worrying increase in suicides over recent years.

We developed training for early years practitioners to address this need, and we deliver this as a three-hour online session. It is designed for anyone who works with children aged five and under, and it covers the impact of suicide bereavement on young children (including at the pre-verbal stage), practical tips for providing support to the children affected and their family, language to use and avoid, specialist support to signpost to and also useful resources available for this age group. We recommend that at least one person from an early years setting accesses this training, so that they are prepared to provide the best possible to support to children in their care following suicide bereavement.

We are hoping to be offering some of these sessions for people working in the Greater Manchester region later this year, which we will promote on our social media channels when confirmed, and we also have a session scheduled next month, that people can already sign up for regardless of which part if the country they work in. Here is the registration link for Luna Suicide Bereavement Training for Early Years Practitioners on 14 November, which you are very welcome to share with your child's nursery as we still have some slots available:

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/luna-suicide-bereavement-training-for-early-years-practitioners-tickets-732867455287?aff=ebdsoporgprofile

Thank you for your interest, and helping us to improve the support for children who lose a parent to suicide.

[Samsouthern]

Hi Anna,
As a widow to a suicide death, left with five children and a step daughter ranging from the ages of 23 down to 2. I have personally lived, seen and still see the impact this has had on us all. How do you envision a full national standardised strategy/policy with the full wrap around support. Looking at the bigger picture. I feel this is huge and needs to be across the board.

[AnnaWardleyLunaCEO]

Thanks for joining in the conversation @spinspinsugars

'My Father committed Suicide when I was 13, although I had counselling and seemingly 'dealt' with the awful situation as a Young teenager, it has had the biggest impact on myself and my older Brother as adults, and now both Parents ourselves. It felt particularly poignant when I turned 38, the same age my Dad died. Thank you for the work you do and raising awareness for such a taboo subject x'

Thanks for sharing about your experience, it really resonates with me as I've felt the impact of my dad's suicide (I was nine when he died) throughout my life, and although it's now almost four decades ago, it is still something that influences many areas of my life. It's not only the impact on me, but also on those around me that I love, and people in our Luna Lived Experience Network share how the loss of a parent to suicide has affected them in different ways at different times in their lives. Some common themes are mental health struggles, feeling abandoned and having difficulty forming trusting relationships, self-harm, substance misuse and other things to numb out, and low self-worth and a need to prove ourselves. In most cases no support was available or offered after the parent ended their own life, and they have navigated the loss themselves over the years. Some talk of how poignant it has felt when their own children reach the age they were when their parent died by suicide, I haven't got there yet, but I can imagine that will bring a lot of things up despite the length of time that has elapsed. If you are interested in finding out more about our Luna Lived Experience Network, you can find out more here:

https://teamluna.org/luna-lived-experience-network/

[GonnaGetGoingReturns]

@AnnaWardleyLunaCEO

Thanks for sharing your experiences @GonnaGetGoingReturns:

'There’s a neighbour in our street with a DD aged 11 and DS aged 9 (maybe 10) whose DF ended his own life earlier this year. I think the DC are coping as well as they can do, their DM’s and presumably their DF’s parents come and stay regularly (they don’t live nearby).

A family friend who’s now approx in her 60s told me when I was younger as a teenager and suffering anxiety and depression that her DF had ended his own life when she was at boarding school aged early teens.

Any bereavement is hard to deal with and bereavement counselling and a normal routine certainly helps.'

You're absolutely right, suicide is very different to other types of bereavement, partly due to the sense of abandonment a child can feel and the result impact on their sense of self worth. We often hear testimonies from children who say they felt 'they weren't enough for their parent to stay alive for'. Children can often feel alienated in grief support groups when other children have experienced their parent's death by natural causes, when they would have done anything not to have left them.
The experience of the family in your street really resonates with me as I was also aged 9 when my dad ended his own life. It's had a huge impact on my life, and the lives of all those around me. There was so much stigma surrounding his death, and their was a suffocating wall of silence surrounding his death. We became estranged from his family, which so often occurs after a parent's suicide, and I have faced significant mental health struggles. It my my motivation to apply for a Churchill Fellowship to do international research on improving the support after parental suicide, and I was lucky to visit 19 porganisatuons in Australia, USA, Denamrk and Canada doing great work to support children, young people and their families after the death of a parent by suicide. I founded Luna Foundation in March 2022 to implement the findings from my report entitled Time to Count. If you are interested, you can view it via this link: https://issuu.com/annawardley/docs/churchillfellowship_timetocount_annawardley_web_pa

You’re welcome @AnnaWardleyLunaCEO. Not a parent but a best friend of mine lost her life to suicide in her early 30s after a short period of mental health where she was given a high dose of medication which made her put on weight and lactate. The doctors then reduced the dose drastically and I recall her sobbing to me in tears saying how could she trust them again? She ended her life about a month after this.

The thing I recall about the family in my street was about a month after it happened I was coming out of my front door, I know the family but not really to speak to, but know the son’s name. I was with a friend so didn’t really have time to chat and the son was passing with his DM from school pick up. He suddenly shot a look full of pure grief at me. I smiled at him but as I said I don’t know the family my NDN’s do and they’ve relocated abroad. I hope the family are getting the support from the family they need. When the NDN’s visited for the funeral (the DH was the man’s best friend, the wife of the best friend was helping the widow sort out paperwork etc. I can’t even begin to imagine what the children are going through but hopefully support groups like yours help. I do know with my friend, her brother and sisters talk about her on divide media sometimes but even now 20 years on, they still couldn’t face me visiting them and naturally talking about her. I understand that. Even me, years on, I’m still devastated and feel like it’s a bad dream and I’ll see her somewhere we used to go.

[AnnaWardleyLunaCEO]

Thank your for contributing to this important conversation@Hanzanza

'Hi Anna, it is so important that children who lose a parents to suicide are counted so the right resources can be funded to support them, but how do we get policy makers to see parental suicide as a different bereavement to other parental loss?'

You've hit the nail on the head there, it's vital that we have data on how many children lose a parent to suicide across the UK each year so that we can plan and fund the appropriate support. At the moment this doesn't happen so they continue to remain invisible. At Luna, we're doing all we can to ensure that this changes and we've launched our #TimeToCount campaign to urge the government to collect and publish data on the number of children bereaved by parental suicide each year so that they can receive the support they need and deserve. Suicide bereavement is different to other forms of bereavement. Research clearly shows they face significant risks to their long term mental health if they don't get timely and effective support but the lack of data is creating a massive barrier to them getting this support. As people who lost a parent to suicide in childhood, without protective measure in place, we face a two-fold risk of hospitalisation due to depressions and a three-fold risk of taking our own lives.
It might surprise you to learn that as a nation we don't even know how many children experience the death of a parent or primary carer each year, let alone by suicide, so we are committed to ensuring this changes and are working hard to highlight to policymakers why this is so important. I talked about why this is so important, along with how my life has been shaped by the loss of my own dad to suicide as a child, in my BBC Radio 4 Four Thought Talk last December., You can listen to it here:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001fw6l

[AnnaWardleyLunaCEO]

Thanks for joining in this important conversation @MaggieGW

'Hi, I work with mothers, many of whom say things like 'it would be better if I weren't around any more', because they feel so exhausted, isolated and anxious; they don't feel they are a good mother and society can often judge struggling mothers harshly. What would be the right thing to say in these circumstances?
And also, if they are aware that their own mother struggled with depression, or even took her own life, what sort of impact would you think that has on the way they parent?'

It's really important that we don't overlook maternal mental health, as we know that suicide is the leading cause of death in women in the first year after having a child. I was heartened to see that the government have identified pregnant women and mums as a priority in the new Five-Year Suicide Prevention Strategy published a couple of weeks ago, but sadly with no funding commitment, but there's a lot of work to be done to ensure that mums get the support they need, especially single and solo mums who can face additional pressures, practically, emotionally and financially.
For mums who have experienced the loss of their own mum to suicide, this can have a significant impact on the way they parent. It's important to stress to them that suicide is not genetic, even though there is an increased risk of inter-generational suicide. It is down to environmental and socio-economic factors, and if they can get a solid support network in place and help with any emerging psychiatric symptoms, they can mitigate any risks to their own mental health. For some, including myself, it can act as a protective factor rather than a risk factor, and for me, knowing the pain and long lasting impact caused by my dad's suicide has been a deterrent, and has given me increased resilience, empathy and is often the case, has led to post-traumatic growth. I'm sure there are many mum's who have also gained strength and resilience from adverse early life experiences, which make them great parents and give them the very tools they need to parent in challenging circumstances.

[AnnaWardleyLunaCEO]

Thank you everyone for taking part in today's Q&A focused on improving support for children after suicide bereavement. It's been a priviledge to be able to answer your many questions and I've been touched to hear about all your experiences. I haven't managed to answer all your questions yet, but I promise to get back to everybody over the next few days.
This has been a really important opportunity to bring this topic out of the shadows and to break down some of the taboo surrounding parental suicide. Huge thanks to MumsNet for providing the platform for this invaluable conversation and also to the team at Sound Delivery Media for helping to set this up. Together we can all help children who lose a parent to find light in the darkness. For every child bereaved by parental suicide, it is time to count and for us to make sure they get the support they need and deserve.
You can find out about the work we're doing at Luna Foundation to improve the support available to children after a parent dies by suicide including providing online suicide bereavement training for people who work with children and young people: www.teamluna.org

[Homebird8]

Thank you Anna for working so hard to make support more likely and better designed for children and young people who are bereaved through parental suicide. It happened to my nieces and nephew a few weeks ago when their dad ended his life. We are still pre-funeral, so right at the point where people are checking on them and my sister, but I'm very aware that this can wain quite quickly. I flew from overseas to be with them but I can only stay for a few more days. The links and organisations you mention will be passed on. You have made a difference to my loved ones. Thank you again.