How can you ensure your institution is prepared to respond to sudden student deaths?
Join us to explore practical strategies and trauma-informed approaches for managing a university’s response to all sudden and unexpected student deaths with care and coordination.
This professional development event for Student Services practitioners supports our university communities to build confidence, compassion and clarity when responding to the death of a student — including deaths by suicide. Drawing on national guidance from across the sector, this event will also address other causes of sudden death to ensure that institutional responses are consistently sensitive, timely, and supportive across the full range of circumstances. Gain insight into how to respond in the immediate aftermath of a student death and how to support healing and wellbeing within the wider university community.
During this event we'll explore
- Understanding the legal, policy, and ethical duties for providers when a student dies, including safeguarding, data protection, and institutional duty of care.
- Learning how to apply crisis response frameworks that remain compassionate under pressure.
- Developping trauma-informed skills to provide practical and emotional support to bereaved peers, colleagues, and next of kin.
- Planning internal and external messaging with care, clarity, and respect to avoid harm and misinformation.
- Devising a critical incident review that clearly outlines all stakeholders responsibilities', and procedures with bereaved families to maintain transparency.
- Understanding how postvention, or support after suicide, plays a key role in suicide prevention, in line with the Suicide-safer universities principles.
