Recorded Training

Grief after Suicide:
Effective Interventions for Adults & Adolescents

Experiencing a death by suicide can have a profound impact on those left behind. In addition to feelings of shock, guilt, anxiety, anger and rejection, they commonly struggle with daunting “why” questions that have no easy or consoling answers. People bereaved by suicide also present increased risks of depression, posttraumatic stress disorder, and suicidal behavior compared to other bereaved and non-bereaved counterparts. While most research in the field has focused on these adverse outcomes, there is a growing body of evidence that many of those experiencing this tragic loss also report posttraumatic growth—a positive psychological transformation that occurs through a process of meaning-making and struggling with a highly challenging and stressful event.

Informed by the literature and his own research, Karl offers a comprehensive conceptualization of grief after suicide in the context of contemporary grief models, and summarizes what is known about the efficacy of interventions provided to bereaved adults, distilling the ingredients of effective support in both personal and professional contexts. He then goes on to focus on the impact of suicide on family systems and how best to support young people attempting to move toward an adulthood shadowed by the experience of traumatic loss.

Note: This 3-hour CE module focuses on application of psychological assessment and/or intervention methods that have overall consistent and credible empirical support in the contemporary peer reviewed scientific literature beyond those publications and other types of communications devoted primarily to the promotion of the approach.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

Summarize characteristics of grief after suicide, including how it compares to other forms of bereavement and 'complicated’ grief;
Describe conditions that facilitate the processing of grief after suicide in psychotherapy;
Evaluate evidence for the effectiveness of support provided to people bereaved by suicide;
Identify the potential therapeutic components of interventions to best help adolescents and adults who are survivors of suicide loss; and
List one’s own role and that of various interventions within a public health framework.

Earn 3 Continuing Education (CE) Credits

Portland Institute for Loss and Transition is approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. Portland Institute for Loss and Transition maintains responsibility for this program and its content.

Portland Institute for Loss and Transition, [Provider number 1954], is approved to offer social work continuing education by the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB) Approved Continuing Education (ACE) program. Organizations, not individual courses, are approved as ACE providers. State and provincial regulatory boards have the final authority to determine whether an individual course may be accepted for continuing education credit. Portland Institute for Loss and Transition maintains responsibility for this course. ACE provider approval period: 09/09/2025-09/09/2028.

Earn 1 Credit for Orientation Module toward
Certification in Grief Therapy for Traumatic Loss
Offered by the Portland Institute.

PROGRAM SCHEDULE

This program contains the following video segments:

The Scope of Suicide Loss: A Continuum Model (46 mins)
The Impact of Suicide Bereavement: From Prolonged Grief to Posttraumatic Growth (42 mins)
Efficacy of Interventions and Adolescent Survivors (49 mins)
The Lived Experience of Tragic Loss in Youth: A Closer Examination (47 mins)