by Margo Requarth (Author)
The premature death of a parent can be devastating for young children- with the consequences far more profound when the parent dies by suicide. Amidst the resulting grief, turmoil and confusion, the surviving parent is faced with the monumental task of tending to the emotional lives of the children left behind. In this instructive and impassioned work, longtime children's bereavement counselor and psychotherapist Margo Requarth, M.A., M.F.T., charts the complex emotional waters every family must navigate in the wake of a previously unimaginable suicide death. Starting with the haunting tale of her own mother's suicide, Requarth weaves together her experience counseling "survivors," poignant interviews with children, teens and parents, and the latest research on suicide and its aftermath. What emerges is a groundbreaking "how-to" guide for parent survivors: how to manage both the immediate and long-term implications of the suicide, how to talk to your children, how to see them through the heart-rending anguish to a place of acceptance, healing, and finally, a renewed and deepened capacity for joy.
Author Biography
Margo Requarth was just under four years old when she lost her mother to suicide. Today, she is the child/teen bereavement services director at Sutter VNA & Hospice in Santa Rosa, California, where she leads grief support groups, trains volunteer facilitators, and provides crisis intervention to schools and community groups facing bereavement situations. Her more than thirty-five-year career in the mental health field also includes facilitating groups for adult survivors of suicide and private practice as a licensed marriage and family therapist. She serves on the board of directors for the Northern California Chapter of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention.