Understanding Suicide Bereavement, Contagion, and the Importance of Thoughtful Postvention in Schools

Abstract

The rising rates of youth suicide in the USA demand thoughtful evidence-based strategies to help schools and communities recover after a suicide loss has occurred. With this chapter, we review research on the experience of suicide bereavement in adolescence, outline what is known about the potential for suicide to spread through social networks and for singleton suicides to escalate into suicide clusters, and discuss best practices for thoughtful postvention in schools and communities.