suicide postvention glossary

suicide postvention refers to the coordinated support, response, and care provided after a suicide death. this glossary explains key terms used in suicide bereavement and postvention practice, including concepts related to survivor support, contagion risk, and institutional response.

complicated grief - also known as prolonged grief disorder, complicated grief refers to a persistent and debilitating form of mourning in which the normal grieving process becomes blocked or prolonged. suicide loss survivors are at elevated risk for complicated grief due to the traumatic, sudden, and stigmatized nature of the loss.

contagion / suicide contagion - the phenomenon by which exposure to suicide — through personal loss, media coverage, or community proximity — can increase suicide risk among vulnerable individuals. contagion is particularly pronounced among adolescents and within close social networks. effective postvention directly addresses contagion risk by providing coordinated support and communication frameworks in the aftermath of loss.

postvention - coined by Edwin Shneidman in the 1970s, postvention refers to the coordinated support, intervention, and care provided to those bereaved by suicide. it encompasses efforts to reduce stigma, support survivors through grief, and minimize the risk of additional suicide deaths through contagion. postvention is not crisis response — it is the sustained, systemic work that follows a suicide death and addresses its ripple effects across individuals, families, and communities.

postvention infrastructure - the training, protocols, systems, and organizational frameworks that allow institutions to respond to suicide loss with competence and care. postvention infrastructure is what transforms good intentions into reliable, repeatable response — and its absence is what creates the infrastructure gap.

postvention strategy - the professional discipline of designing, building, and implementing postvention systems at the organizational and institutional level. postvention strategy draws on survivor-informed insight, clinical research, and systems thinking to create frameworks that serve both those bereaved by suicide and the organizations responsible for responding to loss.

suicide bereavement - the experience of grief following the death of someone by suicide. suicide bereavement is distinct from other forms of loss due to its traumatic nature, the stigma that surrounds it, and the complex psychological, relational, and social consequences it generates. it is recognized as a discrete public health exposure requiring specialized support and intervention.

suicide loss survivor - a person who has experienced the death of someone they knew by suicide. the term encompasses a wide spectrum of relationship and impact — from immediate family members to colleagues, classmates, and community members. research estimates that between 5 and 135 people may be significantly affected by each suicide death.

survivor-informed - an approach to postvention practice, training, and policy that centers the lived experience of suicide loss survivors. survivor-informed work recognizes that clinical knowledge alone cannot capture the full reality of suicide bereavement — and that those who have lived it hold irreplaceable insight into what helps, what harms, and what systems consistently fail to provide.

the self-perpetuating cycle - a framework developed by sara l. shelton describing how unsupported suicide bereavement generates additional suicide risk. when survivors are left without adequate support, their elevated vulnerability to adverse mental health outcomes and suicidality increases the likelihood of further suicide deaths — which in turn produce new populations of bereaved survivors equally underserved by existing frameworks. this is not a service gap. it's a cycle that effective postvention is designed to interrupt.

upstream prevention - in public health, upstream prevention refers to addressing the root causes and risk factors of a problem before it occurs, rather than responding after the fact. postvention functions as upstream prevention — by supporting suicide loss survivors and reducing their elevated risk for suicidality, postvention directly interrupts the self-perpetuating cycle and reduces the likelihood of future suicide deaths.