Trauma-informed school-based prevention services: Support to students following a suicide death

This paper highlights the role of school social workers and other school-based mental health professionals in postvention activities, supports and services provided by the school following a student’s suicide death. Reflecting the traumatic nature of the unexpected death of a student in the school community, the described postvention activities use SAMHSA’s trauma-informed principles to frame the school’s decision-making, actions, and supports for youth. Although best practice guidelines are available, most social workers have little training or practice experience in these types of services. This paper uses the authors’ practice experiences supporting schools following a suicide death, postvention guidelines, and trauma-informed principles to describe a social worker’s role in supporting students, staff, and the community following a death. A case study is used to illustrate this approach and provide a deeper understanding of a social worker’s role following an unexpected death. This paper can support social workers in learning more about postvention needs, considering their role in postvention services, and framing a suicide death as an experience needing a trauma-informed response.