PS41 - Delivery and Evaluation of Support for People Bereaved by Suicide

Recommendations and Guidelines for Postvention After Client/Patient Suicide in Mental Health Settings in Austria
August, 30 | 17:30 - 19:00

Client/patient suicide can have a devastating impact on therapists working in mental health settings. Some experience reactions similar to those of family suicide loss survivors, including trauma symptoms, and their ability to work and take care of clients/patients in crisis can be temporarily diminished. Some therapists even leave the field. In order to improve support for therapists after the suicide of clients/patients the postvention working group of SUPRA (Suicide Prevention Austria, the national suicide prevention program) has issued recommendations and guidelines for postvention in mental health settings that were published by the Institute for Public Health (Gesundheit Österreich GmbH, https://jasmin.goeg.at/id/eprint/1897/) in 2021. Postvention in mental health settings is a complex task that involves tending to the needs of the staff, other clients/patients as well as the family of the deceased client/patient. A peer-counseling model for postvention which includes these aspects and has been implemented since 2014 by Pro Mente Tirol, a mental health service provider in Innsbruck, Austria, will also be presented.

Speakers