The Tsunami After Suicide: Finding Our Way Through Grief and Trauma

In this course, Sally Spencer-Thomas., Psy.D., impact entrepreneur, speaks evocatively about her experience of suicide bereavement after her brother’s death. Explaining what postvention is and how it happens in stages, Spencer-Thomas notes that it can occur at both individual and community levels. She outlines how suicide grief is different from normal grief and talks about what survivors can expect after a suicide loss. This includes that there can be post-traumatic growth and a bond between the deceased and the survivor which manifests in after-death communication, experienced by the majority of respondents in her research. At a community level, appropriate postvention is important for schools; Spencer-Thomas details the steps that a school community can helpfully proceed through, and offers guidelines for how to talk to children experiencing suicide grief.