Crisis intervention after the suicide of a teacher.

Abstract

Educational institutions increasingly are requesting the services of mental health professionals after a suicide has occurred. Although such communities have sustained sudden shock and loss, the contagious quality of suicide results in uncertainty about the most appropriate response. We describe an intervention occurring after the suicide of an elementary school teacher. The intervention included a meeting with faculty, classroom discussions with the students most directly affected, and the availability of the school psychologist for individual meetings. In addition, a memorial service was held at the school. We argue that such a broad, multifaceted response contributes to the healing process and serves to minimize mental health difficulties after such an event.PAMELA J. KNEISEL received her PhD from the University of Minnesota in 1985. Currently she is an assistant professor of clinical psychiatry (psychology) at Dartmouth Medical School, Hanover, New Hampshire. As a clinical psychologist specializing in work with children and adolescents, she is engaged in direct clinical work, supervision of psychology interns, and research related to adolescent stress and social support. GAIL P. RICHARDS received her PhD from the University of Minnesota in 1986. She is a clinical psychologist at Hennepin County Medical Center, Minneapolis, Minnesota, where she works with children, adolescents and families in an outpatient mental health clinic and consults on an adult psychiatric inpatient unit. She provides clinical supervision for psychology interns and fellows and is conducting research related to attentional disorders. THE ORDER OF AUTHORSHIP for this article is alphabetical and represents equivalent effort. THE AUTHORS ARE GRATEFUL to Kenneth Hampton, Zigfrids Stelmachers, and Ada Hegion for their valuable comments on an earlier draft. Appreciation also is expressed to the anonymous reviewers for their useful suggestions, to members of the intervention team, and to April Donnelly for her assistance with the manuscript.

Reactions following the sudden death of a classmate

“…In this situation the availability of the school psychologist or other professionals with a mental health background for individual sessions, as used elsewhere after traumatic losses (i.e., Kneisel & Richards, 1988;Mauk & Weber, 1991), or an opportunity for students to meet in groups over time, were unused options. Capewell (1994) notes that schools are good at concrete action and planning, such as memorial services, but cope less well with emotional issues, except by referring students to counselors or guidance personnel.…”

Sudden Death of a Classmate and Friend

“…In this situation the school psychologist or other professionals with a mental health background could have been available for indi-vidual sessions, as used elsewhere after traumatic losses (e.g. Kneisel and Richards, 1988;Mauk and Weber, 1991). Capewell (1994) notes that schools are good at concrete action and planning, such as memorial services, but cope less well with emotional issues, except by referring students to counsellors or guidance personnel.…”

Faculty Suicide: Guidelines for Effective Coping With a Suicide in a Counselor‐Training Program

“…The use of an outside consultant by the faculty is suggested as one way to help faculty members better implement a postvention policy (Klingman & Eli,198 1; Kneisel & Richards, 1988 upheaval during a crisis, departmental faculty members are a part of the system in crisis. We suggest that as part of the system, they cannot readily see beyond it.…”

“…Those faculty members who are overwhelmed by the crisis should take care not to add to students' burdens by uncontrolled expression of their own emotions. Those students marked for closer observation would be those closest to the instructor and those who had recently experienced a loss in their own lives (Kneisel & Richards, 1988;Ruof & Harris, 1988a).…”