The term “postvention” describes an intervention initiated after a traumatic event and for the purposes of this post, the term refers specifically to an intervention following a death by suicide on a school campus. An effective response includes communication, connection, healthy grieving, commemoration, stabilization, coping skills and resilience development, as well as advocacy.
For an immediate list of to-dos in an aftermath of a suicide on a school campus, see this page.
Good postvention is good prevention
The knee-jerk reaction by schools and colleges is to cancel everything. But the opposite is recommended. Furthermore, the administration usually tries to contain it by being hush-hush which further exacerbates an emotional crisis and stigmatizes a suicide death.
Why not cancel classes?
For one thing, routine provides a level of comfort. So even if students show up for class and the lesson plan is not delivered, just showing up and doing your best counts. It’s an opportunity to connect and there is no time more important than after a loss. “Keep your structure,” is advice we routinely heard from school social workers we interviewed for our book who had weathered one or more student suicide crises.
What happens if you cancel classes? You can spark contagion.
Because once you have one suicide on campus, all the other kids who’ve been struggling are triggered. So by canceling classes you are isolating at-risk students even more.
Cancelling also sends a message that students “can’t handle it” further fragilizing them. What really needs to happen is for everyone to come together to support one another, connect, and have a discussion. By canceling you are effectively wasting an opportunity to prevent further loss of life and promote healing.
By having everyone come together and talk, and support each other, you are in a position to share information about how to help a friend who might be thinking of suicide so you have multiple eyes and ears out there. You can start off a healthy grieving process and highlight mental health resources like the crisis text line (741-741 USA and Canada).
Losing my son, Charles, to suicide took me to my knees for years.
I’ve never been through something so agonizing and painful. And I do know that handling this part right is important so that fewer parents live with a death by suicide.
In our book, Emotionally Naked: A Teacher’s Guide to Preventing Suicide and Recognizing Students at Risk by me (Anne Moss Rogers) and co-writer Kimberly O’Brien PhD LICSW, we have written an entire section on postvention complete with scripts, discussion guides on postvention and grief, talking points to give to staff and faculty, and guidance for talking about suicide and grief with students. We also give students a framework from which to create their own action plans. Of course, there are also sections on prevention and intervention, as well as building coping skills.
Below are links to postvention guides and prompts for discussion in classes. I beg you to share this. And I don’t beg often. But seeing so many schools handle it poorly after spending time in a writing cave for a year writing a book about it, is disturbing. I don’t want other parents to go through this. Or schools because suicide seems to put teens and young adults at risk for years after being exposed to one. So oddly, talking about it prevents suicide. Being exposed to one raises risk.
Evidence-based Postvention Guides (after a suicide) and articles to help
All of these are free, and I’ve highlighted the two most important ones, evidence-based guides for educators. They’ll help education leaders write the emails, talk with reporters, reach out to parents, facilitate discussions with students, and work with the media.
Free evidence-based guide in PDF- Postvention Guide for Colleges – From JED Foundation & Higher Education Mental Health Alliance (HEMHA) Project
Free evidence-based guide in PDF- After a Suicide: A Toolkit for Schools- Second Edition– From NASP, NASSP, ASCA
Free Resource Poster: Crisis Textline 8.5″ x 11″ poster for walls
Educator support for supporting grieving students after suicide loss
- Article- Support Students Grieving a Suicide Loss: 7 Important Strategies for Educators
- Post on this site: Scripts on how teachers facilitate discussion with their class after a suicide
More Postvention Guides
- Free PDF- How can student groups respond to a suicide on campus? From Active Minds
- Free PDF – Postvention Guidelines Riverside Trauma
- Website: Postvention Response to Suicide, HEARD Alliance
- Website- Reporting on Suicide – Media and online coverage of suicide should be informed by using best practices. Some suicide deaths may be newsworthy. However, the way media cover suicide can influence behavior negatively by contributing to contagion, or positively by encouraging help-seeking.
Book About Suicide Prevention, Intervention and Postvention in Schools
In our book, Emotionally Naked: A Teacher’s Guide to Preventing Suicide and Recognizing Students at Risk by me (Anne Moss Rogers) and co-writer Kimberly O’Brien PhD LICSW, published in August of 2021, we covered memorialization policy and postvention recommendations, scripts to talk with parents, containing contagion and cohort suicide, scripts for educators on how to start a conversation including how long discussions should last, scripts on what to say to other students when the parents don’t disclose the cause of death and the most requested, a script on what to say when the parents have stated the cause of death cannot be shared and students are accusing teachers of withholding information.
How to spot students at risk and get students to look out for one another, how to have a conversation with a suicidal student, what to do about the empty desk syndrome, and how some students have extended their advocacy in the prevention space is also include. We’ve also included a pdf of all the discussion guides, links to resources, and more here.
USA Suicide & Crisis Lifeline call 988
USA Crisis Text 741-741
Suicide & Crisis Lifeline for Veterans call 988, press 1
USA Crisis Line for LGBTQ Youth, call 1-866-488-7386
USA Crisis Text for LGBTQ Youth 678-678
USA TransLifeline call, 1-833-456-4566
USA Suicide Prevention Lifeline & Chat for the Deaf or Hearing impaired. Or dial 711 then 988
United Kingdom Samaritans 116 123
Australia Crisis Line 13 11 14
Canada Crisis Line 1-833-456-4566
Canada TransLifeline 877-330-6366
International suicide hotlines
