Social Atom Repair after Parental Suicide

This paper addresses the nature of, and conditions for, resilience and hope after parental suicide. The author presents her understandings regarding the young child’s experience of parental suicide, and identifies a number of phases, or stages, that children experience in their social atom when coping with this traumatic event.

She describes how her analysis of the shifting sociometric patterns in the family system influences the way in which interventions are made to facilitate social atom repair. The ideas are illustrated with three case studies from practice.