After a Suicide

After a Suicide: A Toolkit for Schools

I decided to participate in this webinar, because there was a suicide at my fieldwork site this year. It didn't seem like there was specific protocol in place, and most of the students impacted were seen by the social worker and outside professionals that the social worker brought in. The School Counselors did not seem to have much of a part in the response which made me wonder what school counselors can do to best serve students when something like this happens. I know how important it is to be knowledgable around this topic in order to provide appropriate and meaningful support for the students affected. Something that may seem insignificant, such as the wording of our responses, is actually very important. For example:

This webinar was meant to introduce the a toolkit that addresses communications and procedures for school crisis response teams following a suicide loss. This toolkit was revised this year (2018), so they could address social media and cultural considerations. These are two factors that have made this intervention more adaptable across grades and school sites. As we all know social media is a huge part of all of our K-12 students' daily lives, and is having a huge impact on their mental health. It is very important to monitor social media outlets to the best of our ability, especially after a suicide had occurred. We must also remember that we can use social media to send out supportive and positive messages. Another important factor to keep in mind is culture. Culture will impact how the students experience grief, so the school and community makeup is very important when responding to a suicide. It also addresses appropriate memorialization. The following are what you will find in the 68 page toolkit:

Four guide principles: 
1. Treating all deaths the same
2. Mitigating risk of contagion
3. Remembering resilience
4. Suicide having multiple causes

Best Practices:
1. Mobilizing the Crisis Response Team
2. Managing overall communications
3. Sharing the news with the school community
4. Responding to students and monitoring reactions
5. Reaching out to the parents
6. Working with the community


There are additional resources found in the Toolkit that can very helpful for schools to develop systems to appropriately respond to a suicide. Samples of guidelines for initial staff meeting, death notifications for parents and students, and an agenda for a parent meeting that can be held. There is also help with talking about suicide, facts to use, and the warning signs we can see. Going forward I hope to utilize this toolkit to inform the creation of systems, or improve upon systems already in place at the school I work in.  I hope this toolkit can help you or teach you something new, so that we can all better serve our students! Thanks for reading.


Find the Presentation and Toolkit here: http://bit.ly/2FTPJno

Endorsed by :
• American School Counselor Association (ASCA),
• National Association of School Psychologists (NASP),
• National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP)

This Blog Post was created by Jessica Stroke, SDSU School Counseling Graduate Student 19'