When a Student Attempts Suicide: The Next Seven Steps White Paper

Do you know what to do after a student attempts suicide?

You know that a phone call in the middle of the night is never good news.

If that phone call is about a student who just tried to attempt suicide, you don’t have much time.

Do you know what do you do?

When a Student Attempts Suicide: The Next Seven Steps: A Magna Publications White Paper

Suicide is the second leading cause of death among college students, and no college or university is immune.

Fortunately, many students survive their suicide attempts. Yet managing the process of hospitalizing a student for psychiatric reasons is one of the most difficult situations you will ever have to deal with. And getting these students back to class—and getting the campus ready for their return—takes thoughtful planning and measured response.

You need to prepare for the unfortunate possibility of a student suicide attempt.  We guide you through creating an attempted suicide response plan that addresses and balances student wellbeing and legal risk exposures.

You will learn what to do—and what not to do—in the minutes, hours, days, weeks, and months that follow a student's attempted suicide.

Based on an online seminar presented by Brian Van Brunt, Ed.D., and Carolyn Reinach Wolf, Esq.. Together they offer practical legal and counseling advice for schools, faculty, and staff managing a suicidal student through the crisis and towards reentry or separation from college. Van Brunt is the director of Counseling and Testing at Western Kentucky State University and past-president of the American College Counseling Association. He is a certified suicide prevention trainer and is a frequent speaker on a wide range of student and faculty behavioral and mental health topics. Carolyn Reinach Wolf is a senior partner of the Abrams law firm on Long Island, N.Y., and is the director of the mental health law practice area. .

In When a Student Attempts Suicide: The Next Seven Steps: A Magna Publications White Paper, you learn how to build a reliable student suicide attempt response plan and how to use it should the need arise. That plan will cover how to respond to a suicide attempt and how to manage the various issues surrounding student mental health. The following are the seven key areas this paper will explore:

1. The Initial Crisis: This includes a discussion of the student behaviors that lead to an admission into a psychiatric facility; it also covers communication between police, health services, campus administrators, and staff.
2. Admission to a Hospital: This section reviews how a student is hospitalized, the value of a memorandum of understanding with local admitting facilities, possible paperwork, signed releases authorizing disclosure of student mental health history, differences between involuntary and voluntary commitments, and more.
3. Communication: This section addresses the barriers to and benefits of mental health information sharing, strategies for including parents or other support people in treatment plans, FERPA and HIPAA requirements and exceptions, and establishing pathways for treatment planning and case management.
4. Circle of Impact: A suicide attempt can affect the entire community, and this section explores how to address roommate and peer concerns, faculty and staff opinions, parents’ requests, and residence hall programming options.
5. The Return: The school must be involved in the decision of whether, when, and how a student returns to campus. This section addresses privacy laws, ADA regulations, conduct processes, and community impact.
6. Watchful Eye: This section explores the options for monitoring and supporting at-risk students after a suicide attempt.
7. After the Storm: This section establishes why ongoing case management and follow-up are critical to preventing future suicide attempts; it also argues and provides guidance for suicide-response and suicide-prevention planning during non-crisis periods.

This 40-page White Paper also provides detailed information on how the student suicide attempt should be handled:

• How a suicidal student should be evaluated and transported to the hospital.
• How and what information should be shared with parents.
• The pros and cons of using an interim suspension versus a medical leave of absence.
• Ways to keep both the student and the greater campus community safe.
• How to avoid exposing the school to undue legal risk during the initial crisis phase, the separation, or the return to school.
• Learn to identify ways to help at-risk students access appropriate and affordable mental health care on or off campus.

Cost

Download the PDF of this white paper, or have the print version mailed to you.

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Order the Campus Access License and load the White Paper onto your institution’s internal Web site for unlimited, convenient, on-demand access for all members of your campus community. Click here for more information and to see all the benefits of the Campus Access License.

When a Student Attempts Suicide: The Next Seven Steps: A Magna Publications White Paper is an essential, informative resource for deans of students, counseling directors and staff, and housing and residential life staff.

Don’t put your students or your campus at risk by being unprepared.

Learn how to plan for and respond to a student suicide attempt by investing in this solution-filled Magna Publications White Paper today.

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