facing the unfathomable: surviving your son’s suicide

’I’m afraid Jono is no longer on this earth.’

This was the call no mother ever wants to receive. Christine Pedley was overseas when she learned that her son had died by suicide. Christine spent many years working in the death and bereavement field, and she thought she understood grief, but the torment she experienced was beyond anything she’d ever known. None of her professional knowledge or experience gave her any comfort.

This book is a tragic, harrowing, and hopeful story of grief and bereavement by a mum who found a pathway through pain and back to life. Entering a relationship with grief enabled Christine to live in a meaningful way while she rediscovered her purpose.

The first half of Facing the Unfathomable takes you on a journey through Christine’s grief experience. The second half of the book draws on relevant grief theories, the power of language when supporting a grieving person, and how glimmers of hope can pierce even the blackest days.

Christine Pedley Assoc.Dip of Social Science (Welfare Studies); Bachelor of Social Work (Honours) Registered Marriage Celebrant; Trained Deathwalker - She is currently a celebrant, death doula, and advocate for death literacy. She lives in Melbourne, Australia.