After A Suicide Loss

Children and youth

A suicide death is a traumatic and difficult loss, and the impact of suicide can leave grieving individuals and communities with questions. Learn more about how to talk to children and youth:

• Mental Health and Suicide Prevention How to Talk to Children and Youth (PDF)
• Mental Health and Suicide Prevention How to Talk to Children and Youth Spanish (PDF)

Suicide loss survivors

• The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention’s (AFSP) Resources for Loss Survivors is a suicide prevention nonprofit organization that provides programs, educates, raises funds for suicide research and programs, and reaches out to those who have lost someone to suicide.
  • AFSP's Surviving a Suicide Loss: Resource and Healing Guide provides information about coping with and surviving a suicide loss as well as a variety of resources.
  • AFSP's Children, Teens, and Suicide Loss provides information about coping with a suicide loss as well as community stores and a variety of resources.
• Uniting for Suicide Postvention (USPV) provides resources and support for everyone touched by suicide loss.
• iCare Packages contain resources to help support an individual or family with the loss of a loved one to suicide.
• Judi’s House is a free-standing organization in the Metro Denver area devoted solely to providing research-based care to grieving children and their families.
• The Dougy Center: The National Center for Grieving Children and Families provides support and resources for children, teens, young adults, and their families grieving a death can share their experiences.

Organizations

• The Colorado Chapter of the AFSP is primarily made up of volunteers working to prevent suicide here in Colorado - and to provide support to those in our community who have been impacted by suicide.
• The American Association of Suicidology (AAS) Community Support & Resources webpage provides a variety of resources, and their online store has A Handbook for Coping with Suicide Grief available for purchase.
• The Suicide Prevention Coalition of Colorado (SPCC) is a nonprofit whose mission is to reduce suicide and its impact on all Coloradans through advocacy, collaboration, and education.

  • Additionally, the Suicide Prevention Coalition of Colorado provides iCare packages to grieving families at no charge.

     

Schools and higher education

• The After a Suicide: A Toolkit for Schools – 2nd Edition is a toolkit for schools after a suicide death has occurred.
• The Higher Education Mental Health Alliance’s Postvention: A Guide for Response to Suicide on College Campuses is a guide for college campuses after a suicide death has occurred.
• The purpose of the After a Campus Suicide: A Postvention Guide for Student-Led Responses guide by Active Minds is to assist students in leading a campus-wide response in alignment with their campus’s postvention plan or in place of such a plan if none exists.

The workplace

• A Manager’s Guide to Suicide Postvention in the Workplace is a guide with 10 Action Steps for Dealing with the Aftermath of Suicide. It provides workplace leaders with clear action steps for suicide postvention, including immediate, short-term, and long-term responses to help employees.

Community mental health centers

• The Colorado Behavioral Healthcare Council website has a convenient map to help you find community mental health centers. These centers are a valuable resources to support postvention at the workplace. Colorado’s community mental health centers (CMHCs) cover every county in Colorado and offer a wide array of services to meet the needs of individuals and families.

Health systems

• The American Association of Suicidology’s Resources for Clinician Survivors website provides resources and information for therapists and clinicians as survivors of suicide.
• Guidelines for Response after a Completed Suicide of a Client (by Centerstone) provide guidelines that have been developed to aid surviving family members, other clients, and staff in the event of a suicide death by a Centerstone client.
• Guidelines for Response: Death by Suicide of a Patient (by the Institute for Living) was developed to aid surviving family members, other patients, and staff in the event of a patient’s death by suicide at the Institute of Living (IOL).
• Clinician Survivors of Suicide Loss video reviews information for clinicians who have experienced the suicide death of a client or patient.
• The Sample Agency Practices for Responding to Client Suicide guidelines and recommendations are intended to help identify immediate responsibilities and potential resources and sources of support following a client's suicide.

Additional communities

• Responding to Grief, Trauma, and Distress After a Suicide: U.S. National Guidelines by the National Action Alliance for Suicide Prevention provide a unified, far-reaching blueprint for the development of suicide postvention at all levels of U.S. society.
• How to Talk to a Suicide Loss Survivor: 10 Helpful Tips help you navigate conversations with suicide loss survivors in a kind, thoughtful, and responsible way.
• After Rural Suicide: A Guide for Coordinated Community Postvention Response by the California Mental Health Services Authority (CalMHSA) supports rural counties with developing a formal, locally-controlled, and coordinated effort in responding to the community after a suicide has occurred.
• En Español: SOS Sobrevivientes de una Suicida es un manual para enfrentar el suicidiode un ser querido.
• ​The National Action Alliance for Suicide Prevention’s Faith Communities Task Force leads Action Alliance efforts to engage faith communities in suicide prevention.
• Supporting Survivors of Suicide Loss: A Guide for Funeral Directors created by the SPRC and SPAN USA, offers funeral directors guidance on how to support suicide loss survivors.

How to report safely for journalists and the media

• Following the Recommendations for Reporting on Suicide can help mitigate the future risk of additional suicides. It provides recommendations on how to report on and cover suicide safely and responsibly.
• The American Association of Suicidology’s Suicide Reporting Recommendations toolkit offers strategies and recommendations to ensure that reporting practices balance the demands facing journalists with public health standards regarding suicide.
• The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline Online Postvention Manual gives guidance on how to consider the role of the internet and to ensure that postvention initiatives also target existing online communities, which is especially important when the deceased is between the ages of 15 and 24

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