School Suicide Postvention x Recovery and Renewal

Embracing and Expanding Postvention

in / for Our Schools

Access Materials To Help Guide Your Work

This page hosts materials from across our events that offer resources and learning on suicide postvention + recovery and renewal.

This video provides an overview for people who are participating in the “Embracing and Expanding Postvention in/for our Schools” Community of Practice and who missed the first session.

Resources to Support School Suicide Postvention + Recovery and Renewal

General

• Riverside Trauma Center Postvention Guidelines
• Provide for Immediate and Long-Term Postvention

Grade School (K-12)

• The Yavapai County Education Service Agency Postvention Plan
• Saving Young Black Lives: Reversing Suicide Trends
• After Suicide: A Toolkit for Schools
• Youth Suicide Prevention, Revention, Intervention & Postvention (ME)
• The Wisconsin Components of School-Based Suicide Prevention, Intervention and Postvention Model
• Suicide Postvention: The Role of the School Community After a Suicide
• Postvention – Guide for New York Schools
• Youth Suicide Postvention: Support for Survivors and Recommendations for School Personnel
• Suicide Postvention in Schools- Canadian Association of Principals

Military

• Veteran’s Administration: Postvention as Prevention: Understanding the Impact of Suicide
• Air Force Resilience: Postvention Tools

Workplace

• A Manager’s Guide To Suicide Postvention in the Workplace

College

• Postvention: A Guide for Response to Suicide on College Campuses

Faith Based

• Suicide Prevention Competencies for Faith Leaders: Supporting Life Before, During, and After a Suicidal Crisis

Rural Community

• Resource coming soon!

Training

• Developing a Community Suicide Postvention Plan
• Connect Suicide Prevention Program: Postvention Combination “Train-the-Trainer” and “Developing a Community Postvention Response Plan”
• Connect Train-the-Trainer: Suicide Prevention/Intervention and Postvention

Video / Podcast

• Rocky Mountain Short Takes on Suicide Prevention: Postvention Practices for Schools
• Suicide Postvention: The Role of the School Community After a Suicide
• After Rural Suicide: A Guide for Coordinated Community Postvention Response
• Uniting for Suicide Postvention
• Suicide Postvention as Suicide Prevention

Supporting Materials

• Black Lives Matter: Preventing and Treating Suicide In Black Youth
• Free Books to Support Children and Teens After Suicide
• Survivor Support Documents
• Best Practices and Recommendations for Reporting on Suicide
• Preventing Suicide: How to Start a Survivors’ Group
• Supporting Survivors of Suicide Loss
• A Practitioner’s Guide to Multi-level Prevention, Assessment, Intervention, and Postvention
• New Hampshire Hospital Intervention Program

Research

• Suicide Postvention Service Models and Guidelines 2014–2019: A Systematic Review
• Systematic Review of Suicide Postvention Programs
• Development of suicide postvention guidelines for secondary schools: a Delphi study
• Responding to suicide in secondary schools: a Delphi Study

Have other resources connected to Suicide Postvention in Schools?

Help grow our SCRR resource library by submitting a resource here.

Embracing and Expanding Postvention in / for Our Schools Community of Practice

During our first year at SCRR, we had multiple school sites, districts and counties ask us about suicide postvention. And this past year was heavy for so many: the combination of uncertainty, isolation, and prevalence of suicidal behaviors has heightened the importance of paying increased attention to how communities, especially school communities, can effectively recover and renew after a school community experiences a death by suicide death by respond when a suicide occurs. 

Because we at SCRR are about what happens after a crisis, we want to create space and place for this national conversation.

The Embracing & Expanding Postvention in/for Our Schools Community of Practice launched September 2021 and will continue until May 2022, and is open nationally to educators, youth advocates, mental health providers, crisis responders, school site leaders, and school mental health professionals to:

• Learn about suicide postvention- where the field is now, and where it can go (e.g., what does long term postvention look like? Should it even be called “postvention”?)
• Approach suicide postvention through grief sensitive, trauma informed, healing centered, and youth-focused work
• Collaboratively create content (and eventually a training) that could be used to train others that expands postvention beyond the first weeks after a death by suicide (containment) and for longer, more holistic impact (incorporating restorative circles, meaning making, and mourning)
• Center Black and Indigenous youth postvention needs, innovations, practices
• Provide an overview of important topics to support trauma-informed and culturally appropriate responses in school communities in suicide aftermath.

Together, we’ll establish shared definitions and present nuanced perspectives on how to provide suicide postvention in school settings.

Below are posted decks for each session. Recordings will not be posted to respect confidentiality of the Community of Practice, with the exception of Session 1 to ensure all participants have a common grounding. If you have questions about this Community of Practice, please contact us.

Session 1: Thursday, September 23, 2021

• Session 1 slide deck (PDF)
• Session 1 recording

Session 2: Thursday, October 28, 2021

• Session 2 slide deck (PDF)

Session 3: Thursday, November 18, 2021

• Session 3 slide deck (PDF)
• Session 3 Guiding Questions (PDF)

Session 4: Thursday, January 27, 2022

• Session 4 slide deck (PDF)
• Guidance for Suicide Postvention Circles by Project Fleur-de-lis and Mercy
• Discrimination and Suicide Prevention video by Project Fleur-de-lis

Session 5: Thursday, February 24, 2022

• Session 5 slide deck (PDF)

Session 6: Thursday, March 24, 2022

• Session 6 slide deck (PDF)

Session 7: Thursday, May 26, 2022

• Session 7 slide deck (PDF)

Co-Facilitators and Coordinators

Zeruiah Buchanan

Zeruiah Buchanan (she/her) has been the suicide prevention epidemiologist at AHCCCS and is transitioning into a new role as a doctoral student in the Epidemiology Department at University of Washington. Her former education includes psychology, Africana studies, community health education, epidemiology, and biostatistics. Her experience as a Black Woman in America and educational background has moved her to be an activist and advocate for marginalized communities that are often made invisible. It is a personal and professional goal for her to promote work surrounding mental health, health equity, and cultural humility. For the Embracing & Expanding Postvention in/for Our Schools Community of Practice, Zeruiah hopes to create a brave space for discussion and bidirectional learning.

Francesca Osuana

Francesca Osuana (she/her) is currently a Field Coach with the School Crisis Recovery and Renewal (SCRR) Project and joined the project in 2020 through her work with Trauma Transformed, where she focuses on trauma-informed systems and has collaborated with county behavioral health, local school districts, and public health departments, among others. Prior to her work with SCRR, Francesca was a school social worker and was regularly called in to support students dealing with suicidal ideation. Before becoming a social worker, she was a crisis hotline volunteer and  worked under a psychiatric epidemiologist who focuses on suicide prevention. As part of the Embracing & Expanding Postvention in/for Our Schools Community of Practice, Francesca is committed to uplifting community wisdom, prioritizing racial equity and destigmatizing mental health.