Responding to Campus Tragedies: Developing, Implementing, and Evaluating Postvention Outreach Plans Danielle Lico, Associate Dean of Students The George Washington University (kermit@gwu.edu) Tracy Arwari, Ph.D., Ed.D., Student Success Officer The George Washington University (tarwari@gwu.edu)

Context for Presentation On-campus tragedies take a variety of forms Preparedness is key regardless of circumstances Suicide is the 2nd leading cause of student death Roughly ~1100 completed suicides on campus each year Who has responded to campus tragedies? Are you willing to share how that went? Recap of last academic year, specifically the spring and into the fall: --11 deaths within 12 months (suicides, accidents, overdose, health issues) --1 very public suicide attempt --1 reported death that was actually a coma (medical issue) --Staff member death Tracy take second half: --Turner and Keller , 2011 UVA --First mortality study of college students since 1939. Suicide 47% lower and alcohol related deaths 60-76% lower than same-aged general population. Effective education, detection, and intervention Accessible medical and counseling services Less driving Socioeconomic status Morbidity related to alcohol still a critical public health issue Homicide 97% lower than predicted rate for general population. Campus security and crime prevention Behavior intervention teams

Literature Turner and Keller, 2011 Jobes Gould Suicide contagion (modeling) & clusters Social learning theory Approach/ avoidance conflict Emotional contagion (Kramer 2014) Higher Education Mental Health Alliance (HEMHA) postvention guide T&K—Tracy Jobes—Danielle Gould—Tracy Contagion—Danielle HEMHA Guide—Tracy Clinton Jed Foundation

Why should your school develop a postvention plan? Why does this matter? Why spend the time to do this? Importance of preparation Who has a postvention plan? Have you ever had to use it? Tracy

Goals of a postvention plan Facilitate the grieving/ adjustment process Stabilize the environment Lower risk of negative behaviors Limit risk of additional suicides through contagion Danielle

To limit contagion through postvention… Adhere to media guidelines Shape students’ desire to “do something” Initiate online strategy Assess community risk Address myths and misinformation Danielle

Outreach timing Three phases of postvention Immediate Short-term Long-term Each population is addressed in each phase Tracy

Immediate postvention Begins within minutes of a tragedy On-scene response Comfort with ambiguity Uncertainty of role Goal is to gather information This information MUST be verified before acting upon it! Begin liaising with campus/ community partners (police, emergency response, etc.) Danielle

Short-term postvention Microcommunities Who constitutes this? How to identify these students? Why work with microcommunities? Contextualized outreach Who reaches out to these groups? Why these individuals? Tracy

International Student Outreach Cultural implications Stigma around suicide/ mental health Additional considerations when this group is affected Tracy

Public incidents How to address larger community needs when an incident is public? How to determine who has been affected? Who reaches out? Why? Danielle

Memorial service/ media guidelines Social media Local/ national news Campus/ student newspapers Dramatic headlines Article location Positive vs. negative effects (Papageno effect) When to offer a memorial service? Guidelines for community grieving sessions Student support events Danielle

Faculty outreach Two levels: How to reach out? Who should do so? Faculty in whose class the student was enrolled Faculty as a whole How to reach out? Who should do so? Tracy

Staff outreach Staff who are immediately impacted: Staff at large On-scene responders Community directors/ building managers Personal connections Staff at large Danielle

Senior university administrators Level(s) of communication Timeline Managing expectations vs. reality Danielle

Family communication University representative designation With student’s friends/ community Danielle

Other circumstances Death of a student studying abroad Death of a student on an exchange program within the U.S. Tracy

Legal considerations Communicating sensitive or difficult information to students Email vs. phone call vs. in-person conversation Limits of liability Danielle

Additional considerations Financial obligations Semester tuition refund policy Outstanding balances Student records FERPA HIPAA Posthumous degrees Family participation in degree ceremonies Parameters for degree conferral Tracy

Future considerations Professional/RD/RA Staff Training Role playing Boundaries Limitations of responsibility Self-awareness/Self-care Tracy

Checklist What can you do now to prepare for the unexpected? Preparation is KEY!