A Guide for Response to Suicide on College Campuses
INTRODUCTION
This resource is intended for use by colleges and
universities that are affected by and/or want to be
prepared for campus crises and campus deaths.
Suicide postvention efforts address the need for
predetermined strategies to effectively and sensitively
respond to campus deaths after they occur and also
contribute to improved prevention efforts. This
resource defines specific areas of consideration and
planning and offers suggestions for best practices.
Planning and implementation of postvention
efforts rely heavily on using an interdisciplinary
approach that utilizes the skills and resources of
administrators, practitioners and the greater campus
community. These disciplines will ideally collaborate
in the postvention planning and coordination,
implementation of postvention efforts, clinical
services, communication efforts, and decisions about
holding memorials and other related events with the
goal of helping the community return to a normal
routine.
It is our hope in developing this guide that schools will
be better prepared to manage the painful challenge
of a student suicide death. While our hope is that
schools will use this guide to help with planning so
that systems are in place to respond, we have tried
to make this guide sufficiently concise to be valuable
also when a school has not engaged in planning but
is faced with a student suicide and needs to rapidly
develop and implement a response plan. ■
