Supporting those who are left behind
Supporting those who are left behind is a free national counselling framework developed by the NMPCC to address the specific needs of families and friends of missing persons. It aims to assist health professionals and practitioners to better understand the specific trauma experienced and provides a framework of how to best support families and friends of missing persons.
The framework includes the full version booklet, brochure and training DVD and can be ordered free-of-charge by contacting the NMPCC .
The framework was developed through consultation with families and friends of missing persons as well as national and international colleagues who have a shared understanding of what it means to be left behind.
Five themes for working with families and friends of missing persons have been identified. The following provides a summary:
- Reanimation: helping families with their sense of being frozen to the time of their loved one's disappearance and assisting families to move from their sense of feeling ‘stuck'.
- A celebration so far: acknowledging and honouring the family's relationship with the missing person, facilitating families to find an opportunity to respond to the current loss of their loved one.
- The trauma timeline: exploring the impact of the disappearance as well as the accumulated traumas families may have faced prior to their loved one going missing.
- A protected place: co-constructing a space where families can acknowledge the pain of not knowing while still finding ways to live life.
- Opportunities for growth: exploring ways in which families can live with their loss, rather than being consumed by it.