Often, thinking about suicide in educational settings centers on prevention and intervention, however; what we do when a student dies by suicide is of great importance.  How do we communicate the news to the school community? How do we effectively support grieving students and staff?  How do we honor the student’s life? 

Suicide prevention, intervention, and postvention is a cyclical process in which a well-informed postvention process supports future prevention efforts.  Postvention – how a school responds after a suicide – is not an end point.  Exposure to a death by suicide is one of the highest risk factors for suicide, therefore postvention becomes an integral part of creating a preventative environment within the school community.