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Safe Harbour: An illustrated storybook for children bereaved by suicide.
Safe Harbour is a free illustrated story book for children who have been bereaved by suicide. Published by the HSE in June, Safe Harbour is written by Patricia Forde – Ireland’s Laureate na nÓg – and illustrated by visual artist Bronagh Lee. This new HSE resource will empower parents or carers to have difficult conversations safely with their child around this sensitive topic.
Safe Harbour is about a family – referred to as the ‘crew’ – who are navigating their ship through life when something ‘terrible happens’. One of their crew dies by suicide. A child (who could be a girl or a boy) tells the story in Safe Harbour. They describe what their journey was like after the death of their Dad. The book contains lovingly crafted words and illustrations that are suitable for a child, and that they can relate to.
This resource is accompanied by Safe Harbour: A Helpful Guide for Parents and Carers, which outlines how parents or carers can practically use the book. The guide is also helpful for any professionals who would like to integrate Safe Harbour into their work to support a child who has been bereaved by suicide. The book is tenderly dedicated to bereaved children and families in Ireland.
Over 90% of people who have been bereaved by suicide in Ireland, received support from their family, friends or community in the first instance. However, talking with young children about the death of someone close by suicide, can feel overwhelming or daunting, especially at a time when a parent is also grieving themselves. To this end, we are very proud to introduce Safe Harbour – a remarkable beacon of hope that brings reassurance to parents and carers, that these tender conversations are always possible. – John Meehan, HSE Assistant National Director and Head of the National Office for Suicide Prevention
How to access Safe Harbour resources
Visit www.childhoodbereavement.ie/safeharbour for:
- More information on Safe Harbour
- Downloads of Safe Harbour and Safe Harbour: A Helpful Guide for Parents and Carers – in English and Irish
- Accompanying audio resources
- Information on bereavement supports.
Safe Harbour and Safe Harbour: A Helpful Guide for Parents and Carers, are also available in print. To request printed copies, email safeharbour@nosp.ie.
Background to Safe Harbour
The development of Safe Harbour has been led by HSE Resource Officers for Suicide Prevention in Dublin South, Kildare & West Wicklow Community Healthcare, with the Irish Childhood Bereavement Network (ICBN) within the Irish Hospice Foundation and the HSE National Office for Suicide Prevention (NOSP). It has been supported by Barnardos, HUGG (Healing Untold Grief Groups) and Pieta – and has included review and input from people with lived experience of suicide loss.
Safe Harbour is published as part of the HSE’s commitments to enhancing suicide bereavement supports in Connecting for Life, Ireland’s National Strategy to Reduce Suicide (2015-2024).
