Postvention is Prevention – Messages Matter
When it comes to suicide, we are all very well aware of the concepts of prevention and intervention, but there is another facet to suicide that we are not necessarily well-versed in. The concept of postvention is important to consider in the wake of a death by suicide within our community.
Postvention, simply put, refers to the activities a community or a group of people undertake following a death by suicide. Proper postvention practices work to reduce stigma, as well as act as another form of prevention. It’s important to understand how the things we do and the things we say after a suicide death can impact individuals within our community so that we are not being harmful with our words and messages. A majority of the information and guidelines related to postvention involve school-aged children and teens. This may lead us to believe that following proper protocols is only important when it comes to those age groups, however, this is not true. We know that how we talk about suicide and the support we offer to those affected can impact the lives of suicide loss survivors regardless of age and background.
Breanne Mellen, Suicide Prevention Program Coordinator
Proper language use and accurate reporting are two of the many responsibilities a community has after they have experienced a death by suicide. In fact, we can help our community heal after the loss of someone to suicide by ensuring that the words we use and the messages we deliver publicly are accurate and follow certain guidelines.
When we are talking about suicide, it is common to hear the term “committed” being used. This has long been the way we describe the death of someone by suicide, however the term committed is actually rooted in stigma. The use of the term committed can imply that the individual was immoral or criminal for dying by suicide and we know that this is not the case. Another duo of terms commonly used are “successful” or “failed.” It is important to understand that suicide is never about success or failure. Consider the messages that words send to those who remain after a loss to suicide, or to those who have attempted to die by suicide. If someone attempts suicide, is it truly a failure that they still live? It is much preferred to use terms and words that describe the action in and of itself: died by suicide, suicided, attempted to die by suicide, suicide attempt.
There are other ways our words can impact people who have experienced a loss to suicide as well as those who reside in a community that has experienced such a loss. It is important that when we talk about someone who has died by suicide, we do not provide information that includes details of the death (method/means), location and personal information related to the individual that has died. Doing so can serve to increase the trauma already being experienced by individuals within the person’s family and friends, as well as the community as a whole. We must work at not romanticizing death by suicide through detailed descriptions to reduce harm.
The biggest part of our responsibilities in supporting those who have experienced a loss to suicide is providing hope. Our messages that we deliver to our friends, families and community should always include a focus on hope and resiliency as they are the two things that the people we speak with may not be feeling after a loss to suicide.
There is always hope and it is important that when we talk about suicide, that is our focus more so than the act of dying. When we focus solely on death and dying and do not include any messages regarding hope or information on how to build resiliency and connect with supports that can help, we are not doing a good job of providing support to those in need.
Hold On Pain Ends
While these are simply some of the important guidelines about language related to suicide, there are many more things that are important to consider when we speak about it or report on it. For more information on preferred and safe language, please click this link to the Public Health Agency of Canada’s Language Matters informational toolkit.
Postvention extends far beyond simply the messages we receive and deliver to others. There are many more things that can be done in the wake of a suicide death that help to reduce the stigma and trauma for those impacted. In the following weeks, we will be exploring more facets of postvention here on the blog and providing helpful information for our community.
This blog was written by Breanne Mellen, Suicide Prevention Program Coordinator for Canadian Mental Health Association Alberta Southeast Region. She can be reached via or phone (ext 102)