After a Suicide: Why Workplaces Need to Think About What Happens Next

Every year, World Suicide Prevention Day offers us an important opportunity to talk about suicide, raise awareness and encourage people to seek help.

But one part of the conversation receives far less attention.

What happens afterwards?

When someone dies by suicide, the impact can extend far beyond those we might immediately think of as bereaved. Families, friends, colleagues, managers, and sometimes entire organisations can find themselves trying to navigate something they never expected to face.

This is where postvention comes in.

Postvention describes the care and actions taken after a suicide. Its purpose is to support those impacted by the death, reduce further harm and promote recovery.

Workplace postvention can be particularly complex, especially when managers must respond quickly while also considering the needs of bereaved and affected colleagues.

When grief comes back to work

My understanding of this stems from both my professional work and my own experience of bereavement by suicide.

Following the suicide of my first husband, returning to work felt incredibly daunting. I felt vulnerable and tried to make sense of what had happened while somehow returning to environments that had once felt completely ordinary.

There can be a strange disconnect. Meetings still happen. Phones ring. Emails need answering. Normal conversation carries on around you.

Meanwhile, your own world can feel anything but normal.

That experience, many years later, inspired the name The Flying Fish Company. I often describe grief as feeling like a fish out of water. You are still you, but suddenly you are trying to navigate an environment that no longer feels familiar.

For someone returning to work after a suicide bereavement, the way colleagues and managers respond can make an enormous difference.

Yet many fear saying or doing the wrong thing.

Why workplace postvention matters

If an employee dies by suicide, or a member of staff is bereaved by suicide, managers can suddenly face questions they have never had to consider before.

What should we say? Who might be affected? How do we tell the wider team? How do we support someone returning to work? What if colleagues are deeply distressed?

There may also be practical decisions to make while people are experiencing shock, sadness, and confusion.

It is hardly surprising that organisations can feel unsure about what to do.

But silence and avoidance can have an impact too. An unacknowledged death can be deeply felt, and managers may find themselves supporting others while also dealing with their own emotions.

Thoughtful postvention does not mean having all the answers. It means recognising that the impact of suicide can ripple through an organisation in ways that are not always immediately obvious.

The ripple effect of suicide

Suicide does not affect everyone in the same way.

Some colleagues may have known the person extremely well, while others may have barely known them and still feel deeply shaken. A death can also bring back memories of someone's own bereavement, mental health difficulties, or previous experiences of suicide.

Managers may be supporting distressed staff while managing their own reactions. Remote workers, people on different sites, and clients or customers may also be affected.

Recognising this wider ripple effect helps us move away from asking only, "Who was closest to the person?" and towards asking, "Who might be impacted, and what might they need?"

A practical starting point

I created my new Workplace Postvention Checklist because practical guidance matters in a crisis.

It is not designed to turn managers into counsellors or suicide specialists. It is simply a starting point.

The checklist covers some of the immediate areas an organisation may need to consider, including communication, identifying who may be affected, supporting managers and colleagues, considering the needs of those who are bereaved, and signposting to appropriate help.

Most organisations will hopefully never need to use it.

But I would much rather a manager have a resource saved somewhere and never need it than find themselves searching the internet for guidance in the hours after a death.

Postvention is also part of suicide prevention.

Postvention begins after a suicide, but its importance extends beyond the immediate aftermath.

Those affected can experience significant emotional distress and increased vulnerability. Recognising this, building connection and ensuring appropriate help is available can reduce further harm.

A compassionate response also sends an important message across an organisation. Grief will be acknowledged. Difficult conversations do not have to be avoided. People do not have to carry the impact alone, and asking for help is acceptable.

Free Workplace Postvention Checklist

To mark World Suicide Prevention Day, I have created a free Workplace Postvention Checklist with The Flying Fish Company.

It is intended for managers, HR teams, wellbeing leads, and anyone who may be responsible for supporting others after a suicide.

Visit the Suicide Postvention in the Workplace section of The Flying Fish Company website to download the checklist and access further guidance.

For organisations seeking to build greater confidence in this area, I also offer The Ripple Effect: Managing the Impact of Suicide in the Workplace, which explores how suicide can affect colleagues, managers, and wider teams, and how workplaces can respond compassionately.

We spend a great deal of time discussing how to prevent suicide.

We also need to ensure that when the unimaginable happens, those left to live and work through its impact are not forgotten.