In 2019, a National Health Service Trust in England lost 11 members of current and former staff members to suspected suicide. Set against the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic, this book is a case study of how one workplace was affected. It offers a critical examination of how management responded, reflecting on their missteps, their desire to learn, their uncertainty about what actions to take or where to begin and how they ultimately relied on staff guidance to chart a path forward.
Based on research conducted in 2021, this book presents a series of recommendations outlining how to integrate suicide prevention and postvention into organisational policies and wellbeing strategies. The book includes a 'Seeking Support Framework', 'Postvention Communication Strategy Model' and a 'Healthcare Workforce Postvention Toolkit', which are practical tools that readers can embed in their own workplaces quicky and efficiently to prevent suicide. This book reveals to the reader how anti-suicide measures can be put in place in a healthcare setting or any organisation.
Workforce Suicide: Barriers and Postvention in the Healthcare Sector is a sobering yet vital read for any student, researcher or practitioner in the fields of occupational health and safety, healthcare and healthcare management, nursing, medicine, social care or occupational therapy.
Ann Luce is a Professor of Journalism and Communication and Deputy Dean in the Faculty of Media and Communication at Bournemouth University, UK. She has been researching in the field of suicide prevention for the last 20 years. She is the co-creator of the Suicide Reporting Toolkit for Journalists and Journalism Educators: www. suicidereportingtoolkit. com and is the former UK National Representative to the International Association of Suicide Prevention (2020-2023).
Georgia Turner is a Senior Research Assistant in the School of Psychology at the University of Southampton, UK, studying paediatric breakthrough pain. She is also a PhD candidate in the Department of Psychology at Bournemouth University. Her research focuses in the areas of social anxiety, safety behaviours and acceptance and commitment therapy.
Reece D. Bush-Evans is a Senior Lecturer in Psychology at Bournemouth University, UK. His research explores the social psychological factors that shape behaviour, with a particular focus on the influence of personality, group dynamics and interpersonal relationships. Additionally, he investigates gambling-related harms and health interventions.
