A comprehensive suicide prevention program for schools has three components: prevention, intervention, and postvention. My posts about the first two are at https://www.videntpartners.com/blog/2023/youth-suicide-prevention-and-competent-school-community and https://www.videntpartners.com/blog/2023/suicide-intervention-schools. Postvention refers to responding or being prepared to respond to suicide in a way that is helpful to schools and students. Edwin Schneidman, PhD, a revered pioneer in suicide prevention, defined postvention as “the provision of crisis intervention, support, and assistance in the aftermath of (or post) a death by suicide.”
The purpose of postvention is to help survivors of suicide loss – family, friends, schoolmates, faculty/staff, and communities. Survivors are recognized as victims who need assistance in coping with grief and other reactions. Postvention in schools is particularly important to reduce the risk of suicide contagion. After the suicide death of a student, other students at the school are statistically at higher risk for suicide, so the school’s response is essential to recognize and address the potential for suicide contagion.
Developing a postvention protocol for schools is important because suicide is a rare occurrence, so most people have no experience in coping with it. Having a postvention plan in place will help school administrators anticipate pressures that will come from various directions after a student suicide. An established postvention plan can quickly defuse competing agendas and outline clear roles for staff and students, which in turn increases feelings of competence and provides the ability to contribute to healing. Proper planning also enables schools to utilize staff experience and expertise in developing a school-based crisis response team, proactively involving community resources, and adapting to local culture and resources.
There are three essential components to a school postvention plan:
Providing Control
- Using formal and informal communications to help mitigate misinformation, rumors and gossip.
- Outlining clear responsibilities for crisis team members.
- Providing information and direction to faculty and staff.
- Managing media requests.
- Considering elements of control in all proposed responses.
Providing Support
- Acknowledging and addressing the needs of all members of the school community.
- Providing both permission and opportunity to talk about feelings.
- Providing extra support to vulnerable students and staff.
- Including ancillary staff in outreach efforts.
- Recognizing differential impact of the crisis, so the type of support is developmentally appropriate.
- Maintaining school routines and activities for greatest degree of support.
- Routines and activities provide natural places where feelings and experiences can be shared, thus preserving the sense of belonging and solidarity so crucial to students and staff in a crisis.
Providing Structure
- Including strategies that focus on all components of the competent school community.
- Conducting a readiness assessment for administrators to guide proactive development of policies and procedures.
- Addressing the needs of students at all stages of their education.
- Using handouts and electronic communications to ensure consistent messaging.
The school’s role in postvention is crucial but limited. For example, the school is not in the business of providing ongoing mental health treatment. Also, nothing should be done to glamorize or sensationalize the event. To this end, there are available guidelines for memorialization to help reduce potential suicide contagion. Schools must neither avoid or ignore dealing with the aftermath of suicide, nor force students or staff to access support services, including treatment. A suicide death impacts all school staff and students to some degree, and identifying those most impacted is an important task. Lastly, school staff need to be helped first in order to be helpful to students – as they say in the air travel business, put your own oxygen mask on first before trying to assist others.
Overall, the three goals of postvention in schools are to prevent further suicides, to support the bereaved, and to counteract the other negative effects of exposure to suicide. One of the highest risk factors for suicide among students is knowing someone who died by suicide. An established postvention plan, reviewed with faculty and staff on a yearly basis, can save lives.
