Youth Suicide Prevention Strategies

Youth Suicide Prevention/Intervention/Postvention Strategies

The amount of information on suicide and suicide prevention can be daunting. DPI has compiled a list of best practices for Wisconsin school districts on suicide prevention, intervention with a suicide, and how to respond after a suicide (postvention). Through postvention, it is important to support students and staff through a crisis event and avoid more suicide attempts. Proper messaging and special care needs to be taken with procedures in handing a suicide completion, to prevent future suicides from happening. Below are links to guides, toolkits, and strategies that will help school districts create their own crisis plans to prepare in the event of a suicide. For information on memorials, see School or Community Memorials for Students Who Have Died by Suicide.

WI Suicide Prevention Guide
This guide provides you with resources and links to documents and websites that will assist you in creating a comprehensive youth suicide prevention program.

After A Suicide: A Toolkit for Schools
This toolkit includes an overview of key considerations, general guidelines for action, do's and don'ts, templates, and sample materials, all in an easily accessible fomat applicable to diverse populations and communities. Provided by American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP) and Suicide Prevention Resource Center (SPRC).

The Youth Suicide Prevention School-Based Guide is a publication developed by the Louis de la Parte Florida Mental Health Institute at the University of South Florida. It is not a program but a tool that provides a framework for schools to assess their existing or proposed suicide prevention efforts (through a series of checklists) and provides resources and information to enhance or add to existing programs.

The Wisconsin Components of School-Based Suicide Prevention, Intervention, & Postvention Model
The suicide prevention, intervention, and postvention guidelines are designed for schools to use within existing protocols to assist at-risk students and intervene appropriately in a suicide related crisis.

Wisconsin Suicide Prevention Strategy emphasizes that for any prevention activity to go forward, three things are necessary: a knowledge base, public support for change, and a strategy to accomplish change.

National Strategy for Suicide Prevention provides a framework for preventing premature deaths due to suicide across the life span in the United States.

For questions about this information, contact Brenda Jennings (608) 266-7051

Last updated on 5/11/2011 3:25:22 PM