Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

The Forgotten Mourners: A Literature Review On Parental Suicide And Community Art Therapy With Child Survivors, Emily Ellis

Expressive Therapies Capstone Theses

The prevalence of grief has raised the question of the long-term effects and efficacy of current bereavement practices (Mitchell, Wesner, Garand, Dysart-Gale, Havill, & Brownson, 2007). There is a lack of understanding and research on bereavement support for child survivors of parental stigmatized deaths; specifically, death by suicide. Children remain to be an underserved population with specific vulnerabilities regarding their inclusion in the emotional and cognitive comprehensions of the death and the resounding grief and mourning. Consequences specific to death by suicide are characterized by feelings of guilt, blame, and shame, as well as perceived stigma and isolation (Mitchell et …