Senior Mentally Health Clinician & Assistant Adjunct Professor CIFC Health & Southern Connecticut State University Southbury, Connecticut, United States
Body of Abstract: Understanding Maternal Suicide Grief: Stories of loss, hope, and post-traumatic growth
Abbreviated Description : One hundred and thirty-two people die by suicide each day in the United States; that is one person every eleven minutes (American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, 2023). Each year suicide thrusts approximately 500 million individuals into the role of bereaved by suicide (Spillane et al., 2017). Given the omnipresence of suicide, the presentation intends to give voice to mothers’ individual and collective narratives about the many factors that contribute to maternal suicide grief and centers their narratives as the primary means for mental health practitioners to better understand suicide grief and post-traumatic growth.
Learning Objectives:
Participants will assess and analyze four core themes that comprise maternal suicide grief.
Participants will identify how to create psychologically safe spaces for mothers to process maternal suicide grief.
Participants will identify and discuss the social, cultural, and religious factors that may perpetuate suicide stigma and shame.
Participants will be able to assess how these factors may further entrench and complicate suicide grief.
