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  1. Suicide Prevention and Response

Suicide response

A coordinated and informed response can help schools address student and staff needs following a suicide, reducing the risk of more suicides occurring.

Responding to a suicide

Experiencing the death of someone to suicide can have a devastating effect on individuals and communities. 

If your secondary school is currently responding to, or recovering from, a suicide or attempted suicide, contact your Be You state or territory manager on the numbers below. Our Be You Consultants can support your school as you care for the affected students, staff and families.

  • ACT: 0475 838 049
  • NSW: 0475 838 049
  • NT: 0477 769 352
  • QLD: 0455 079 803
  • SA: 0448 381 280
  • TAS: 0458 559 736 
  • VIC: 0458 559 736
  • WA: 0477 769 352
Be You Consultants are available during the hours of 9am–5pm, Monday to Friday.

It's important for schools to undertake immediate risk management processes, follow emergency management protocols and contact your relevant department or school authority prior to contacting Be You.

Suicide Postvention Toolkit

Suicide postvention relates to a school’s response to suicide. The Toolkit offers practical guidance on responding to a suicide and managing the impact on a school community.

The toolkit is divided into three sections for easy reference. Each section outlines the key actions that schools responding to, and recovering from, a death by suicide can undertake:

  • immediately
  • in the short term 
  • in the longer term.

You can also download the Complete Toolkit [PDF, 14.1 MB]

Be You Fact Sheets

The toolkit is supported by nine Fact Sheets to which provide guidance on some of the key activities that occur after a suicide:
  • Supporting young people after a suicide [PDF, 4.4MB]
  • Grief: how young people respond to suicide [PDF 269KB]
  • Family liaison, funerals and memorials after a suicide [PDF, 321KB]
  • Staff grief after a suicide [PDF, 253KB]
  • Suicide in schools: information for families [PDF, 287KB]
  • Understanding suicide: information for the community [PDF, 348KB]
  • Responding to a death that can’t be referred to as a suicide [PDF, 272KB]
  • Media and social media [PDF, 288KB]
  • Boarding schools: what to do after a suicide [PDF, 364KB]
In addition, there are five Fact Sheets available if you have Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students at your school:
  • Grief: how Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people might respond to suicide [PDF, 2.4MB]
  • Remembering a young person: memorials and important events in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities [PDF, 1.9MB]
  • Suicide in schools: information for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families [PDF, 2.1MB]
  • Self-care for school staff working with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people in remote areas [PDF, 2.4MB]
  • Suicide contagion for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people [PDF, 2MB)

Resources

These resources help you to plan and respond to a suicide:
  • Immediate suicide response: principal's checklist [PDF, 2.0MB]
  • Suicide Response Plan template [PDF, 323KB]
  • Best Practice Model overview [PDF, 161KB]

Last updated: June, 2022

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Be You acknowledges the Traditional Owners of the Land on which we work. We pay our respects to Elders past and present, and extend our respect to all Elders and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples across Australia.