Tō te Rā recognizes the long, emotional and complex journey of healing after loss to suicide.

Establishing a Support Persons Register (SPR) can help identify those who have been impacted by suicide loss and therefore might benefit from direct immediate contact and offers of additional support. While the formation of a SPR is recommended, great caution must be taken in respect of the sacredness of sharing personal information of the deceased and those who have been impacted.

Nevertheless, after a suspected suicide, sharing minimal personal information within a PCWG about potentially impacted community members aims to help strengthen a community in its suicide prevention actions and is intended to help prevent further deaths and other suicidal behaviours by identifying and addressing suicide exposure impacts.

That is, the overarching purpose of a PCWG is suicide prevention and therefore the sharing of personal information as part of PCWG activity is allowed under Rules 10 and 11 of the Health Information Privacy Code (2020; HIPC). These rules state that sensitive health information can be shared if: “The disclosure of the information is one of the purposes in connection with which the information was obtained.” or “The disclosure of the information is necessary to prevent or lessen a serious threat to public health or safety or the life or health of an individual.” A suicide cluster and signs of emerging suicide exposure effects (contagion) are both serious threats to public health and safety; individual wellbeing and lives may be at risk (see also Tō te Rā resource “Privacy Guidelines” for more detailed information on this).

Any PCWG keeping a “Supported Persons Register” formerly known as an “At Risk Register” or “Vulnerable Persons Register) needs to be aware of and adhere to legislation governing the collection, use and storage of personal information according to the Privacy Act (2020) and the Health Information Privacy Code (2020). For example, in New Zealand the Privacy Act (2020) requires that all reasonable steps must be taken to ensure that any personal information collected is
for a legitimate purpose, is accurate and up to date, is held securely, and is able to be viewed by the individual concerned should a request be made to do so.

The overarching purpose of keeping a SPR is suicide prevention.

Activities which are consistent with the intended purpose of suicide prevention include:

• The identification of individuals who, by virtue of family, friendship, work, social, geographic or other connection, may be impacted adversely after exposure to a suspected suicide. The Circles of Connection is a useful model for considering how this might be undertaken.
• The PCWG allocates agencies or services to follow-up these individuals for comprehensive assessment of their needs including their suicide risk screening, assessment and subsequent management including problem solving and the development of safety plans.
• The identification of groups in the community whose members’ health might be seriously threatened by others’ suicidal behaviour(s) and therefore need active follow-up, assessment and additional support.
• The identification of individuals in the community currently engaging in suicidal behaviours (i.e. suicidal thoughts, planning, preparations, attempts and self-harm) who may be further impacted by suspected suicide(s) and therefore require re-assessment and additional monitoring and support.
• The identification of individuals in the community currently engaging in suicidal behaviours (i.e. suicidal thoughts, planning, preparations, attempts and self-harm) who may be further impacted by suspected suicide(s) and therefore require re-assessment and additional monitoring and support.
• Feedback into PCWG on supports mobilized to identified individuals
• Long term follow-up of individuals on the SPR up to and beyond significant anniversary dates including the 12-month of a suspected suicide and in the event of an echo cluster, in subsequent years.

Key guidelines for keeping a Supported Persons Register:

• Only share the SPR with other PCWG members who have signed a privacy agreement.
• Keep only one copy of the SPR and nominate a lead agency from the PCWG which will be responsible solely for updating the SPR and managing it in accordance with relevant legislation.
• Keep only that information on the SPR sufficient for postvention purposes. Typically, the information on a SPR would include:
  • Name of the potentially vulnerable person,
  • Date this name was added to the SPR,
  • Reason for concern,
  • Known connections to the deceased,
  • Agency allocated for following up this individual,
  • Outcome of that follow-up and date this occurred,
  • Information on any subsequent review or additional concern for this individual (see Tō te Rā PCWG SPR Template).
• Do not circulate the SPR by unsecure email or any other unsecure means. The single copy of the SPR can be brought to each PCWG meeting for review and updating. Any circulation of a SPR should only ever be undertaken securely, using a password protected or encrypted file.
• Each agency on the PCWG collects, uses and stores only that information pertaining to specific individuals on the SPR allocated to it for follow-up.
• Rather than take individuals’ names off the SPR when they are no longer considered requiring active follow-up, signal on the SPR, that the individual has been followed up, by which agency/individual, when, by what means (e.g. phone, text, appointment) this follow-up was undertaken and what the outcome was. This allows for long term follow-up of all those
  initially considered to be at potentially increased vulnerability.
• Each agency on the PCWG keeps its own records of any assessments and interventions undertaken by its staff with any individuals from the SPR allocated to it for follow-up.