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Originally Posted by Ruthla  How little are these kids?
I think I'd focus on mental health in general- that the person was sick, was hospitalized for a while, is now taking medicine that helps but they're not 100% better yet- and because of the mental illness (name it if you have an accurate diagnosis) the person needs help with this, has troulbe doing that by herself, etc.
I wouldn't bring up attempted suicide all by itself- it's really only a symptom of the underlying illness. I wouldn't talk about all the symptoms of a relative's illness to a child no mater what the illness.
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Ditto. I think talking about the "episode" in general with regard to unwellness, hospitalization, and then wellness is fine for keeping them in the loop without going into details. I think normalizing mental unwellness as similar to a physical unwellness can be really appropriate for kids, especially in regard to reducing stigma in the family- they say the biggest form of stigma that people with a mental illness face comes from friends and family so an empathetic attitude in your kids with regard to illness would be a great thing to cultivate.
If the kids are older, then there are ways of describing what happened without giving the idea that suicide is a valid option. One of the ways I talk about suicide to those who are fairly unfamiliar with it is to talk about how people often don't want to die, they just want their pain and sadness to end, so we can then talk about the fact that since they're now getting help things will get better for the person. It may be important to stress that while your family member felt this was their only choice, that we all
always have choices, although we sometimes need the help of others to see them. Also that if they ever start to feel down and sad, there are always people they can talk to, like parents, other adults, counsellors, etc.
