New Luna Guide for early years practitioners launched today
After a successful week delivering Suicide Bereavement Training for early years practitioners across Greater Manchester, we are proud to launch our latest Luna Guide.
The 16-page guide entitled Supporting babies and young children after the suicide of a parent or carer: a guide for early years practitioners’ was developed through extensive research and focus groups and reviewed by our Luna Lived Experience Network members.
The guide will help you understand how suicide bereavement is different and the risks faced by children bereaved in this way. We share information on grief and trauma responses in early years children and how to help them cope with and process these complex emotions. We share guidance on talking about suicide with young children, including helpful phrases and things to avoid. We also look forwards, with things to bear in mind as children get older and resources to support the entire family.
‘Our latest Luna guide has been developed for those working with early years children and provides key guidance on providing timely and effective support after a parent dies by suicide. We know this age group needs special attention to mitigate any long-term risks, and we are delighted that our new training for early years practitioners has received such excellent feedback particularly from those who are actively supporting children following suicide bereavement,’ Anna Wardley, CEO of Luna Foundation, said.
The guide complements our training for early years practitioners, launched last week. So far we have trained 84 professionals working in early years, from nursery workers to headteachers, safeguarding leads to social workers. Out of those who took part, 97% of those giving us feedback gave the course 5 stars, and 100% would recommend it to a colleague.
One participant commented: “The content for this course was very well organised and information shared was clear and concise in all areas. The tutors were engaging, personable and extremely knowledgeable. Such a vital training course for all those working with young children.”
We are also developing suicide bereavement policy template to help early years settings formalise and implement appropriate support, resources and training. We will be launching this early in 2024.
