New York City — The Jed Foundation — in partnership with the College Student Mental Wellness Advocacy Coalition and Hi, How Are You Project (HHAYP) — has released an emergency preparedness guidebook for student housing managers on how to handle the sudden and tragic loss of a resident in a community.
Titled Responding to Suicide: Postvention Guidance for Student Housing Managers, the guidebook offers protocols for engaging with law enforment; communicating with campus officials and the residential community; facilitating rapid support; memorializing the deceased; and planning for long-term and future approaches to prevention and postvention.
“We are at a pivotal moment where we continue to lose young people at increasing rates to suicide,” says Dr. Kurt Michael, senior clinical director at New York City-based JED. “The urgency has never been greater, and our partnership with the College Student Mental Wellness Advocacy Coalition and HHAYP is a crucial step toward change. This guidebook provides essential support to communities in the wake of a tragedy, and importantly, it also provides proactive measures to prevent further loss of life to suicide.”
More than 16 million teens and adults nationwide reported experiencing suicidal thoughts in 2023, according to data from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. Off-campus student housing operators are uniquely positioned to help with suicide prevention and postvention response, as nearly 75 percent of suicides occur where people live, according to data from Harvard University’s School of Public Health.
Responding to a Suicide: Postvention Guidance for Student Housing Managers can be downloaded here.