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Donna Thistlethwaite Responding to the unthinkable

Donna Thistlethwaite is a Brisbane-based speaker and trainer specialising in mental health and resilience. She is an accredited Mental Health First Aid instructor and Resilience at Work Facilitator with a passion for suicide prevention and for helping individuals, teams and organisations to THRIVE. You can find out about her next Mental Health First Aid course here.

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Donna Thistlethwaite Responding to the unthinkable

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  1. Responding To The Unthinkable

  2. You hang up the phone in total shock. You never saw it coming. An employee’s relative has just informed you that one of your team won’t be coming back to work … Yesterday they died by suicide.

  3. This a call you never want, or expect to receive, yet with eight Australians dying by suicide every day (and that’s pre-Covid), this is a call that many leaders across our country are needing to respond to. I was asked to provide advice on this scenario a few months back when an HR contact found herself responding to the suicide death of an employee whose position had been made redundant some months earlier. It got me wondering how prepared businesses are for this eventuality.

  4. Hopefully your organisation has incorporated a well-structured suicide postvention protocol into your crisis management plan but in case you haven’t yet, the following are some considerations and resources that may assist you in responding to a suicide in service.

  5. Communicate quickly and transparently to employees about the death with a notification from the CEO or other senior representative. If the family requests that the cause of death be withheld this should be considered in light of the risk of distrust towards management if employees discover this information through other sources. You may find Guidelines developed by Mindframe, for the responsible reporting of suicide, helpful when crafting an appropriate message.

  6. Supporting affected employees and containing the crisis needs to be one of your highest priorities. The type and amount of support each individual will need can vary significantly given individual differences, relationships to the deceased, an individual’s current mental health and other factors in their life. Mandatory debriefing or counselling after a traumatic event is no longer considered best practice1, although counselling should be offered on a voluntary basis to affected employees immediately and over time where needed.

  7. If you have an Employee Assistance Program provider, they should be well equipped to support leaders and employees affected by the suicide. I have heard of organisations offering employees EAP sessions above their standard allocation in these circumstances. Remember that leaders may also be significantly impacted by the loss and may require support while managing the crisis and beyond.

  8. The nationwide Standby Support After Suicide service offers extensive support to organisations after a death by suicide. Their short-term support includes visits to workplaces to assist with the response, counselling, referral to services and workshops on supporting someone impacted by suicide. In Brisbane Standby can be contacted 24/7 on 0438 150 180 and this link will connect you to the service in other states and territories. These services are federally funded and are at no cost to your organisation.

  9. There is a growing body of evidence that people bereaved by suicide are at higher risk of suicidal behaviour2 so ensuring your employees are assisted to access appropriate supports can help to contain the impact of a suicide in the workplace and have a positive impact on suicide prevention. For more about it visit us.

  10. COMPANY NAME - Donna Thistlethwaite CONTACT PERSON NAME - Donna Thistlethwaite POSTAL ADDRESS - Everton Park QLD 4053, Australia EMAIL ID - Donna@DonnaSpeaks.com.au PHONE NO. - 0419 120 601 https://donnathistlethwaite.com.au/

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