Responding after a suicide attempt

A school’s response to a suicide attempt is a deliberate process.

It’s aimed at ensuring the immediate and ongoing safety, care and support of a young person at risk of suicide, as well as others who may be affected by the situation.

These key actions should guide the school response:

• Call an ambulance if the young person has taken a drug or medicine overdose or consumed poison, is seriously injured, unconscious, confused or disoriented, or has bleeding that is rapid or pulsing.
• Remain calm, non-judgemental and caring.
• Keep the young person safe and supported. Take them to a safe, private place if they can be moved. Remove any means of suicide available to them in the immediate vicinity, such as medications or weapons.
• A risk assessment should be done by a trained professional (for example, a mental health professional or a school staff member with suitable training) as soon as possible to assess the likelihood and severity of the young person’s suicidal intentions.
• Refer the young person appropriately, based on the assessment of their support needs. If the young person is at imminent risk of suicide, seek professional support from your local mental health service or emergency department. Stay with the young person (or arrange for supervision) until they can be seen and assessed.
• Call the police if a young person is disclosing intent to harm themselves or threatening to harm others and is so distressed that they’re unmanageable in the school environment.
• Communicate with the family of the young person and any professionals involved in the care of the young person.
• Consider the impact of the event on others directly or indirectly exposed, for example via social media. After a suicide attempt some members of the school community may be at increased risk of suicide. Those at increased risk should be identified, monitored, supported and referred as soon as possible for a suicide risk assessment.
• Arrange for appropriately trained staff to talk with those impacted to determine what other supports they might need. Contact the families of those impacted. Advocate for support and that a suicide risk assessment is provided where needed.
• Implement your school’s critical incident response plan, or a similar plan for your sector or region. Have student wellbeing or leadership follow up and liaise with hospital or mental health services, or any support service or program, about support planning, communications and information sharing.
•  Respect the confidentiality of the young person. Consider the wishes of the young person and their family when communicating about a suicide attempt.

A school’s response to a suicide attempt is a deliberate process aimed at ensuring the immediate and ongoing safety, care and support of a young person at risk of suicide, as well as others affected by the situation.

A Safety Plan is a tool designed to prevent suicide. For more information about supporting a young person in creating a plan refer to the ‘Creating a Safety Plan’ Fact Sheet.

Returning to school can be a protective factor for young people. It can be helpful in their recovery, especially when the school has worked to create a supportive and protective environment.

The young person may feel anxious about returning to school and will need additional support and understanding. With these considerations in mind, school staff can play a crucial role in supporting the young person and assisting with a successful transition back to school. 

A Return to School Support Plan aims to ensure the best possible reintegration, safety, care and support for a young person who’s returning to school after a suicide attempt. It should include strategies that aim to keep the young person safe, supported and connected with staff and peers. It outlines situations the young person might find difficult and how these can be managed for them to feel safe and supported. 

An up-to-date risk assessment should also be available when completing the plan, as this will guide the level of support and care provided to the young person. If your school doesn’t have access to a recent risk assessment, one should be completed by an appropriately trained staff member before you complete the Return to School Support Plan.

The Return to School Support Plan is ideally written with the young person, their family, school wellbeing staff and any mental health professionals involved in the young person’s care. This should be done before the young person returns to school. If this hasn’t happened, school wellbeing staff should complete the Return to School Support Plan as a priority when the young person does return. You can find a template of the plan on page 10 of the fact sheet.

The process for this planning may include:

• scheduling a Return to School Meeting with the young person, their family, their health care professionals, key school staff and school wellbeing staff to discuss the young person’s needs and develop a Return to School Support Plan
• documenting decisions, actions and outcomes
• making regular contact with the young person and their family to discuss their progress and any concerns or developments.

Key components of the Return to School Support Plan

Identify a key support person at school 

Ideally, this person is a wellbeing staff member who has some mental health training and understands the needs of young people at risk. However, the young person should be encouraged to choose someone who they trust and feel comfortable with. Encourage them to choose staff who are easy to approach, have time to offer support and who understand how they can help. If the young person chooses a staff member who’s not well placed to be a support person, find other ways for this trusted staff member to be involved in the Return to School Support Plan. The key support person should act as the school liaison with the family and external mental health service providers. They’ll also be the key contact the young person goes to if they need additional support or assistance during school hours.

Negotiate the details of the Return to School Support Plan

It’s imperative the young person has ownership of their Return to School Support Plan and that all sections are written with their involvement. Staff should guide discussion and suggestions around strategies but shouldn’t complete the Return 
to School Support Plan on the young person’s behalf. The young person’s active involvement in the development of the Return to School Support Plan will ensure the information is meaningful and helpful, and therefore more likely to be used when required. If the young person is involved 
in decisions about their return to school, it’s 
also likely to influence their re-engagement and successful reintegration into school.

If you believe the young person’s suggestions are unrealistic or unmanageable, discuss this openly with them, giving clear reasons and alternatives. The school’s duty of care needs to be considered, so it may also be necessary to talk about the limits of what the school can offer.

It may be appropriate to consider:

• a gradual return to school until the young person feels well enough to attend full-time
• a partial study load until the young person feels well enough to manage a full workload
• assistance to prioritise catching up on missed schoolwork. The young person’s length of absence from school will determine how much schoolwork they’ve missed. This may feel quite overwhelming for them. Depending on the time missed, it may be worth considering an exemption for missed work, assignments or exams.

Returning to school after a suicide attempt can be a difficult time for young people. 

They may feel anxious about what other people are thinking, nervous about how they’ll cope. They may be worried about catching up on the work they’ve missed. Once they’ve returned, the priority is to ensure they feel supported and able to return to their normal routine. 

Other key actions after a young person returns to school include:

• implementing the Safety Plan or develop and implement a Safety Plan
• referring the young person to appropriate support services as required
• regularly reviewing and updating the Safety Plan according to the young person’s health and wellbeing
• documenting decisions, actions and outcomes
• ensuring staff involved in responding to and supporting the young person have the opportunity for debriefing and support.

Monitoring a young person 

A key part of the staff’s role after a young person returns to school is to monitor their wellbeing.

As there are often multiple staff involved in a young person’s learning, it can be helpful for all staff to understand what to look out for when supporting a young person. Changes in mood, levels of participation and thinking patterns may indicate that the young person needs extra support. 

Changes in mood include:

• being irritable or angry with friends or family for no apparent reason
• feeling tense, restless, stressed or worried
• crying for no apparent reason or feeling sad or down for long periods of time.

Changes in levels of participation include:

• not enjoying or not wanting to be involved in things they’d normally enjoy
• being involved in risky behaviour they would normally avoid
• unusual sleeping or eating habits.

Changes in thinking patterns include:

having a lot of negative thoughts expressing distorted thoughts about themselves and the world (for example, everything seeming bad and pointless).

If staff become aware of changes in a young person, it’s important that action is taken. They might be able to have a conversation with the young person or they might refer their concerns to the wellbeing team.

It’s important to:

• recognise the young person’s distress or concerning behaviour
• ask them about it (for example, “I’ve noticed you seem to be sad a lot at the moment”)
• acknowledge their feelings (for example, “That seems like a really hard place to be in. I can understand why you’re upset about that”)
• get appropriate support and encourage healthy coping strategies (for example, “Do you need some help to handle this?”)
• check in a short time afterwards to see how the young person is feeling.

Risk factors and warning signs

Risk factors are issues in a young person’s life that increase the likelihood (risk) of them acting on suicidal thoughts.

Risk factors are often longer-term challenges that a young person may deal with over a period of time. Experiencing risk factors doesn’t necessarily mean a young person will think about or attempt to take their own life. 

However, the more challenges a young person has in their life, the greater their risk of suicide.

Warning signs are the behaviours and noticeable changes that may indicate a young person is thinking about or planning suicide. The greater the number of risk factors and warning signs, the more likely the young person is at risk of attempting suicide. 

While we can never be sure who or why someone will attempt to end their own life, knowing the risk factors and warning signs means we can identify and assist young people who are most vulnerable.

Wellbeing staff can use their knowledge of risk factors and warning signs to assist with monitoring a young person’s return to school and subsequent level of risk. Where issues of concern are raised, the wellbeing team can facilitate the completion of a risk assessment to more thoroughly review the level of risk and supports the young person may need to remain safe and supported.

Discussing the attempted suicide in the classroom

Always keep in mind the young person’s right to privacy, confidentiality and respect.

Discussing the suicide attempt with other young people will depend on:

• whether the young person communicated any information about their suicide attempt to the school community
• whether the young person posted any suggestive or explicit messages on social media about their suicide attempt.

In cases where a young person has been open about their suicide attempt, either verbally or on social media, it’s important to consult with the young person and their family and agree how to discuss this within the school. If other young people know about the details of the suicide attempt, it’s important to have a general discussion in the classroom about the importance of dispelling rumours, encouraging help-seeking behaviours and reminding young people to respect the rights of others.

If the young person has been actively informing others about their suicide attempt, a conversation between the young person, their family, the key school contact and other support staff needs to occur. It may be helpful to explain the importance of not discussing the suicide attempt at length with peers, as the information may be distressing and harmful to others. You should explore appropriate alternative avenues for the young person to discuss their suicide attempt.

Suicidal behaviour can be distressing and often traumatising for school communities.

It can affect staff in profound and unpredictable ways, both professionally and personally. It’s essential school staff look after themselves and each other. School leaders need to be aware that some staff members may have personal experiences and vulnerabilities that need to be considered in the school’s response. It’s important to consider support options such as consultation, review, debriefing, Employee Assistance Program (EAP) and referral to support services.

Baldwin, G., Butler, H., Hannaway, M. (2017). Delivering effective suicide postvention in Australian school communities. Melbourne: headspace National Youth Mental Health Foundation.  

Cox, G., Robinson, J., Bailey, E., Jorm, A., Reavley, N., Templer, K., Parker, A., Rickwood, D. & Bhar, S. (2015). Responding to suicide in secondary schools: a Delphi Study. Melbourne: headspace National Youth Mental Health Foundation. 

headspace School Support. (2016). Responding to Suicide Attempts in Secondary schools: A resource for Secondary Schools. Melbourne: headspace National Youth Mental Health Foundation. 

Mental Health First Aid Australia. (2014). Suicidal thoughts and behaviours: Mental Health First Aid Guidelines. Melbourne: Mental Health First Aid Australia.