sara l. shelton is the founder of the postvention project and holds a BA in business administration and an MS in gerontology. she has an extensive background in aging services leadership, managing and troubleshooting at retirement communities. wanting to share that expertise with families seeking care options, sara founded and operated an eldercare consulting business before building a decade of operational and program leadership across healthcare, consulting, and technology — learning firsthand how systems either support or fail people at their most vulnerable.

that experience shaped how she thinks about care: not as a transaction, but as a structural commitment. it also included developing a comprehensive trauma-informed training program for peer support contractors — deepening her understanding of how adult learning, lived experience, and clinical knowledge intersect in practice.

in late 2019, her sister heidi died by suicide. navigating that loss, particularly during the pandemic, exposed how little meaningful support exists for suicide loss survivors — and how much of what does exist fails to draw on the one thing that can't be replicated in a clinical training program: lived experience.

closing that gap is the work of the postvention project.

the project focuses on advancing suicide postvention strategy, clinician training, and postvention infrastructure so organizations can respond to suicide loss with competence and care.

* the use of lowercase lettering throughout this site honors heidi.