When a New Hampshire middle school boy tragically took his life in 2009, his school quickly realized they needed help.
Elaine de Mello recalls this suicide because she was on the scene shortly thereafter to assist the school in coping safely with its aftermath. Working together, staff and de Mello, who is with The Connect Project, quickly realized that the middle school needed to also engage the district’s elementary and high schools, or vulnerable kids could be missed.
Why is a broadened, community-wide response appropriate in the aftermath of a suicide?
“In the 2009 case, this middle school boy had a brother in the elementary school. This little brother witnessed the suicide,” recalls de Mello, adding that the brothers also had a sibling in the district’s high school. “Plus, this was a popular kid,” she says of the deceased. “He was on all kinds of sports teams that competed statewide. So parents knew him, coaches, kids from other districts.”
The impact of the suicide on this community? Significant, says de Mello, and exacerbated when just three weeks later a prominent citizen, the father of another family in the school, took his life.
““The bottom line is, managing this can be very difficult,” de Mello notes of the mark that suicide can leave on a community and its citizens.
By applying the Connect model’s socio-ecological approach to suicide postvention (after a death has occurred), de Mello and the school forged a stronger crisis plan that became consistent district-wide, one grounded in national best practices and protocols. Connect also helped coordinate a response to the student suicide, establish the facts about the tragedy, control rumors circulating about the death, implement community-wide education and outreach, and plan for both immediate and longer-term recovery from the suicide.
Moreover, she ensured that the school district didn’t carry this weight alone. Instead, de Mello helped the district engage with law enforcement, mental health, and other community services that could collaborate in meeting the needs of citizens whose vulnerability to suicidal thoughts and acts may have intensified in the aftermath of two suicides, just three weeks apart.
“Suicide is a public health issue,” de Mello notes. “When schools and communities work together, it results in a more effective and comprehensive response. Schools who have been through this recommend not waiting for a tragedy to put plans and resources in place. Be prepared, and utilize both external and internal resources proactively."
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FROM SUICIDE
is designed as a National Best Practice Program that increases the competence and confidence of professionals and communities to respond to suicide incidents across the lifespan. This community-based approach focuses on prevention (education about early recognition), intervention (skills for responding to attempts, thoughts, and threats of suicide) and postvention (promoting healing and reducing risk after a suicide).
