A new report supporting children bereaved by suicide has been published by a Devon charity founder.
Alison Jordan, founder and CEO of Devon-based Pete’s Dragons, launched the model in a Churchill Fellowship report titled From Loss to Growth: Introducing A Developmentally Informed Model for Supporting Children Bereaved by Suicide.
Drawing on more than a decade of work supporting suicide-bereaved families, the report introduces the SAFE Approach, a framework designed to help practitioners, organisations, and communities better support children and young people after a suicide loss.
Alison said: "Following the death of my brother Pete to suicide in 2010, I began a journey I could never have imagined.
"What started with personal loss led to the creation of Pete's Dragons, years of supporting bereaved families, international learning through the Churchill Fellowship and ultimately the development of the SAFE Approach.
"The report represents the culmination of that journey, but what matters most is that the learning is already making a difference.
"Children and young people accessing support today are benefiting from approaches informed by the Fellowship, and I hope the report helps others strengthen support for bereaved children in their own communities."
The SAFE Approach stands for Safety, Attachment, Feeling, and Empowerment.
It is rooted in the understanding that children's experiences of grief, loss, and identity change as they develop, and it advocates for support that evolves alongside those changing needs.
The framework was developed through Alison Jordan’s Churchill Fellowship, which included learning from bereavement organisations, researchers, and practitioners in the US and UK.
Pete’s Dragons has already embedded the approach into its services for children and young people across Devon.
Alison Jordan's interest in childhood bereavement is both professional and personal.
The publication of the report was marked at a Churchill Fellowship Suicide Prevention Programme event at the House of Lords.
It forms part of the Fellowship’s national suicide prevention programme and contributes to wider learning aimed at building more compassionate and effective support systems for those affected by suicide.
The report is available free of charge.
