Melissa Allen Heath

Mar. 07, 2024

Melissa Allen Heath

Melissa Allen Heath, PhD, is an assistant professor in the Department of Counseling Psychology and Special Education at Brigham Young University. Her primary research interest is crisis prevention and intervention in the school setting. She is a licensed psychologist and a nationally and state-certified school psychologist. In addition to serving on school crisis teams, district crisis teams, and community crisis teams, she also received crisis training through Red Cross Disaster Mental Health and Community Emergency Preparedness Training (CERT). Over the past 10 years, she has worked with schools and communities in developing basic training materials for crisis intervention.

by Melissa Allen Heath ; illustrated by Frances Ives ‧

A helpful how-to guide for difficult but necessary conversations.

This groundbreaking picture book provides some possible answers to the question of why someone, especially a parent, might choose death over life.

Losing a loved one is never easy, but when that loved one dies by suicide, most youngsters will have many questions but be provided with few answers. Often, so much stigma and secrecy surround this type of loss that children are further traumatized when adults fail to discuss what happened. Oliver is confused about why his father is no longer living. His mother tries to comfort him, reassuring Oliver that his father loved him and that neither of them are to blame for his death. Oliver’s mother explains that his father was “overwhelmed by a deep dark sadness” and chose to end his life “to get away from the sad, scary, and dark feelings,” language that effectively depicts depression and demystifies the mental health challenges that led to his death. The illustrations contain several luminous double-page spreads that convey the deep sense of loss experienced by those left behind as well as what it might feel like to be “stuck in deep dark sadness.” The contrast between those dark pages and the growing lightness surrounding Oliver and his mother as they process their loss is striking. Oliver is biracial; his father is pictured with light skin and curly brown hair and his mother with darker skin and hair.

A helpful how-to guide for difficult but necessary conversations. (reader’s note, for more information, reference) (Picture book. 6-9)

A helpful how-to guide for difficult but necessary conversations. (reader’s note, for more information, reference)

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Melissa Allen Heath

Melissa Allen Heath

Melissa Allen Heath

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