Panel Discussion 23 - Integrating Suicide Postvention Within Mental Health Training Programs: An Urgent Call to Action

As suicide rates continue to rise to unprecedented levels in the United States, clinical psychology and related mental health training programs play a crucial role in training future providers to assess and mitigate suicide risk. However, the vast majority of programs neglect to adequately prepare trainees to respond to suicide loss. The impact of suicide loss on mental health clinicians, although well-studied, is not routinely incorporated into mental health training programs, leaving trainees vulnerable to experiencing burnout and other adverse consequences in the event that a patient or client dies by suicide.
The goal of this panel discussion is to describe why suicide postvention training must be systematically incorporated into the arc of training experiences for clinical psychologists and affiliated mental health providers, and to provide concrete examples of how such a curriculum can be implemented. Our panel will provide a focused review of suicide postvention research, with an emphasis on how such findings influence implementation of postvention strategies for providers themselves. Although reducing burnout and providing support after a suicide loss is essential for all trainees, we argue that such strategies are even more crucial for BIPOC trainees and those who identify as first-generation college students, as trainees with these identifies already face significantly higher rates of burnout and systemic barriers to completing graduate training.
To accomplish the objectives of this panel discussion and to facilitate dialogue among a broad spectrum of attendees, our panel is made up of an interprofessional team of clinicians and researchers who are all active members of a dedicated Postvention Team at a VA Medical Center. The panel is chaired by a clinical psychologist who holds an academic rank of Assistant Professor of Psychiatry; the chair is also the training director for an interprofessional fellowship program. Panelists include an additional clinical psychologist who has an active role in training psychology interns and a licensed social worker who chairs an interdisciplinary postvention team.