The main purpose of postvention after a suspected suicide is to facilitate healing and recovery by those exposed to the suicide and to prevent further adverse health outcomes by ensuring those impacted are identified and receive culturally relevant, effective and timely support and help to aid their navigation through to wellness.

1. Community contact and engagement:

• Initiate contact with appropriate stakeholders from the community of concern in a respectful, compassionate and culturally appropriate way.
• Implicit in this contact is acknowledgement and normalisation of the acute grief and pain in the community from suspected suicide(s).
• This active outreach is intended to help engage with and empower key community leadership and stakeholders whose input and leadership will be vital in the development and implementation of effective local community postvention actions.
• This initial contact is also a vitally important opportunity to tap into key stakeholder knowledge about underlying community issues relevant to the situation at hand; revealing such issues is fundamental to effective and safe postvention.
• Carefully consider how and who is best to contact and establish lines of communication specifically with whanau of the deceased.
• When appropriate, consider forming a Postvention Community Working Group (PCWG) to design, implement and monitor the community postvention plan.

2. Media management:

• Early in any postvention response a media management strategy for both impacted whanau and the wider community must be developed.
  • A media spokesperson should be appointed by the PCWG to prepare media releases as required and to be the sole contact for all media enquiries.
  • It is recommended that the PCWG consider using one of the member organisations’ (e.g. Te Whatu Ora) existing media spokespeople with appropriate expertise and refer all enquiries to that office.
  • The Mental Health Foundation also offer extensive expertise and resourcing in media management and are a great resource for anyone tasked with managing media aspects of the situation Reporting and portrayal of suicide | Mental Health Foundation
  • All communications should be concise and clear using bullet-pointed key messages free of clinical jargon, avoidant of any glamorisation or sensationalisation and be easily relatable and translatable

3. Information Gathering:

• Verify details of any suicide(s) or significant suicide attempts and those exposed to and potentially impacted by these events from the community of concern.
• Identify an appropriate person, service or agency to actively reach out and contact those identified as having possible increased support needs from exposure to the suspected suicide(s) to determine the exact nature of those immediate support needs, concerns and any suicide risk.

4. Safety and Stabilisation:

• Mindful of the risk of “suicide exposure effects’ especially during the first month after the notification of a suspected suicide is received, the priority is to identify and stabilise the distress of impacted community members and enhance their immediate and ongoing safety by providing supports for physical and psychological safety.
• Identify appropriate services within the PCWG or refer to appropriate services to conduct a psychosocial needs assessment for identified people who may need support, remembering bereaved people are at elevated risk of suicide following suicide loss.

5. Connection with Supports:

• Establish contacts with primary support persons and other sources of support, including whanau, friends, community supports, services and helpful resources.
• Provide practical assistance and information on stress reactions, coping strategies to promote healthy grieving, reduce distress and increase the visibility and access to available supports, resources and services including especially help with problem solving and the development of a safety plan for those impacted.
• Consider what additional training might be required for local services to increase their awareness of the level of distress in the community from exposure to suicide(s) and the need to lower thresholds for the detection and management of adverse health impacts including additional suicidality by community members with exposure.

6. Provide Psychoeducation:

The provision of psychoeducation on grieving, depression, PTSD and suicide is empowering, normalising and comforting to those impacted who might otherwise mistakenly assume that their reactions are unusual. In fact, it is the event which is highly unusual, and their reactions are common and understandable given the trauma that they have experienced.

7. Commemoration of the deceased:

• Memorial services and remembrance activities play an important part in the healing process and can facilitate grieving and recovery after the death of a loved one.
• However, in the case of a death by suspected suicide, the issue is more complicated as any memorials or remembrance activities need to strike a delicate balance between creating appropriate opportunities for people to grieve but not increasing risk of adverse harm including suicidal behaviour for vulnerable others by glorifying, romanticising or sensationalising suicide.

8. Readiness for further suicidal behaviour and suicide(s):

• Plan when and how information about new suicidal behaviour or suicides will be shared amongst the PCWG and what actions will to be undertaken by which members of the PCWG.
• Indicate if and how this additional death is associated with risk factors which are contributing to further suicides or suicide attempts in this community?

9. Self-care and wellbeing of PCWG members:

• It is common to experience a range of emotions in response to suicide, particularly if the deceased is someone in your community that you know personally.
• Be aware of your own response to the deaths in your community. If you find yourself becoming emotionally upset and/or feel increased stress, consultation and debriefing are essential. Be sure to talk about your reactions and the emotions with someone you trust.