Category: Suicide, Children and Families, Grief and Bereavement Category: Suicide, Children and Families, Grief and Bereavement (show less) Other: Wisconsin Other: Wisconsin (show less)

Given the overwhelming prevalence of suicide it is important to explore the personal narratives of mothers who are survived by their child’s suicide. This presentation will illuminate suicide grief and the private, relational, and somatic toll that affects mothers. Participants will explore the personal narratives of mothers to enhance their ability to identify the positive and negative psychosocial factors that influence a mother in the wake of her child’s suicide. Finally, the risk factors that promote compassion fatigue and postsecondary trauma in the helping profession will be emphasized. Ethical considerations and cultural humility will be discussed throughout.
Objectives:

1. Participants will learn four core themes that comprise maternal suicide grief.
2. Participants will discover how to create psychologically safe spaces for mothers to process maternal suicide grief.
3. Participants will be able to identify social, cultural, and religious factors that may perpetuate suicide stigma and shame; and be able to recognize how such factors may further entrench and complicate suicide grief.