Support after suicide loss for healthcare professionals and organizations

AFSP offers a variety of support resources for individuals and families who have lost someone to suicide.

After A Suicide: A Guide for Veterinary Workplaces provides guidance in the event of a death by suicide of an employee within a veterinary practice, hospital, or veterinary organization. This guide provides information and resources to help veterinary work settings in the aftermath of an employee suicide, including strategies for helping the workplace and community to grieve and to organize and manage the key steps of crisis response, communication, and next steps for prevention. This guide was created by AFSP and the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) in partnership with the National Association of Veterinary Technicians in America (NAVTA), Veterinary Hospital Managers Association (VHMA), and the Veterinary Medical Association Executives (VMAE).

After a Suicide: A Toolkit for Colleges of Veterinary Medicine provides guidance in the event of a death by suicide of a student within a school or college of veterinary medicine. This toolkit contains strategies for helping the veterinary medical community to grieve, to mitigate the risk of contagion, and to attend to the main details of crisis response, communication, and next steps for prevention. This toolkit was created by AFSP in partnership with the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) and the Association of American Veterinary Medical Colleges (AAVMC).

After a Suicide: A Toolkit for Medical Schools provides guidance in the event of a death by suicide of a medical student. This toolkit contains strategies for helping the medical community to grieve, to mitigate the risk of contagion, and to attend to the main details of crisis response, communication, and next steps for prevention. This toolkit was created by AFSP in partnership with the Mayo Clinic.

After a Suicide: A Toolkit for Residency/Fellowship Programs provides guidance in the event of a trainee’s death by suicide within a physician residency or fellowship program. This toolkit contains strategies and guidance for hospital and program leaders, helping the community to grieve, mitigate the risk of contagion, and to attend to the main details of crisis response, communication, and next steps for prevention. This toolkit was created by AFSP in partnership with the Mayo Clinic.

After a Physician Suicide: Responding as an Organization Toolkit provides immediate assistance to family members and close colleagues following a suicide. This toolkit contains strategies to reduce the risk of suicide contagion and further distress among colleagues and to institute organizational change to reduce physician burnout, mental health conditions, and suicide. This toolkit was created by the American Medical Association in partnership with AFSP.