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

2. 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

3. 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

4. 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

5. 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

6. 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

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

8. 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

9. 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

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

11. 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

12. 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

13. 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

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

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

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

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

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

19. 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

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

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