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Part Three: Suicide Postvention

Sunday, April 19th, 2026   9:30 AM EDT -12:00 PM EDT
Norman N Blumenthal, PhD
$75.00 Cost For Member: $55 Cost For Student: $45

Suicide Postvention is a two-hour clinical training for mental health professionals focused on supporting families, schools, and communities in the immediate aftermath of a suicide. Drawing on the foundational work of Edwin Shneidman and current research, this workshop explores postvention as a critical component of suicide prevention. Participants will examine common survivor responses to suicide, including grief, guilt, and perceived culpability, and learn clinically appropriate ways to help survivors frame the death as the result of an illness rather than a moral failing. Special attention is given to developmentally sensitive approaches for speaking with children and adolescents, as well as strategies for addressing schools, workplaces, and communities while minimizing destabilization. The workshop also reviews research on suicide contagion (the Werther Effect) and offers guidance for navigating postvention in an era of rapid information dissemination and media exposure.

About the Presenter

Dr. Norman Blumenthal is a licensed clinical psychologist who serves as the Director of Trauma Services for Ohel’s Zachter Family National Trauma Center and Adjunct Professor at the Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary and Ferkauf Graduate School of Psychology both of Yeshiva University. He also has a private practice in Cedarhurst, New York and often consults in the aftermath of catastrophic events and presents on numerous topics, including parenting, grief, trauma, suicide, anxiety, divorce, parental alienation, as well as group psychotherapy.

Learning Objectives:

  1. Identify unique features of grief following a suicide compared to other forms of loss.
  2. Apply clinically effective responses to survivor guilt and perceived responsibility following a suicide.
  3. Describe best practices for addressing schools, workplaces, and community systems in the aftermath of a suicide.
  4. Explain research findings related to suicide contagion, including the Werther Effect
  5. Integrate postvention strategies that balance the risk of contagion with the realities of rapid information sharing in contemporary media and technology.

Agenda:

. Introduction & Framing Postvention as Prevention (10 minutes)

  • Welcome and overview of workshop goals

  • Defining postvention and its role in suicide prevention

  • Historical context: Edwin Shneidman and contemporary perspectives

2. Understanding Suicide Bereavement (20 minutes)

  • How grief after suicide differs from other forms of loss

  • Common survivor responses: shock, shame, anger, guilt, and stigma

  • Clinical implications of suicide-specific grief reactions

3. Addressing Guilt, Blame, and Perceived Culpability (20 minutes)

  • Survivor narratives of responsibility and self-blame

  • Clinically effective interventions for reframing guilt

  • Helping survivors conceptualize suicide as the result of illness rather than moral failure

Clinical application: Case examples and clinician language

4. Postvention in Systems: Schools, Workplaces, and Communities (25 minutes)

  • Best practices for responding to suicide in organizational settings

  • Supporting leadership, staff, and families after a suicide

  • Managing memorialization, communication, and boundary-setting

  • Preventing destabilization while supporting collective grief

5. Suicide Contagion and the Werther Effect (20 minutes)

  • Overview of research on suicide contagion

  • Risk factors for contagion following a suicide

  • Clinical considerations when suicide becomes a community focus

6. Postvention in the Age of Media and Technology (15 minutes)

  • Navigating rapid information dissemination and social media exposure

  • Balancing transparency with risk reduction

  • Guiding families, schools, and communities around messaging

7. Integration, Clinical Judgment, and Q&A (10 minutes)

  • Integrating postvention strategies into ongoing clinical work

  • Recognizing when additional supports or escalation are needed

  • Key clinical takeaways

  • Questions and discussion

These workshops offer 2 Live Interactive Continuing Education Credits

This presentation is open to:
  • Social Workers
  • Professional Counselors
  • Therapists
  • Psychologists
  • Licensed Mental Health Practitioners
  • Medical Doctors and Other Health Professionals
  • Other professionals interacting with populations engaged in mental health based services
Course Level: intermediate
Level of Clinician: intermediate
  • New practitioners who wish to gain enhanced insight surrounding the topic
  • Experienced practitioners who seek to increase and expand fundamental knowledge surrounding the subject matter
  • Advanced practitioners seeking to review concepts and reinforce practice skills and/or access additional consultation
  • Managers seeking to broaden micro and/or macro perspectives

Participants will receive their certificate electronically upon completion of the webinar and course evaluation form.

Disability Access - If you require ADA accommodations, please contact our office 30 days or more before the event. We cannot ensure accommodations without adequate prior notification. Please Note: Licensing Boards change regulations often, and while we attempt to stay abreast of their most recent changes, if you have questions or concerns about this course meeting your specific board’s approval, we recommend you contact your board directly to obtain a ruling. The grievance policy for trainings provided by NEFESH INTERNATIONAL is available here Satisfactory Completion Participants must have paid the tuition fee, logged in and out each day, attended the entire workshop, and completed an evaluation to receive a certificate (If this is a pre-recorded program, a post-test with a passing grade of 80% to receive a certificate.) Failure to log in or out will result in forfeiture of credit for the entire course. No exceptions will be made. Partial credit is not available. Certificates are available after satisfactory course completion by clicking here.
There is no conflict of interest or commercial support for this program.
  • NEFESH International, Inc. is recognized by the New York State Education Department's State Board for Psychology as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed psychologists #PSY-0116.
  • NEFESH International is recognized by the New York State Education Department's State Board for Mental Health Practitioners as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed marriage and family therapists #MFT-0046
  • NEFESH International is recognized by the New York State Education Department's State Board for Mental Health Practitioners as an approved provider of continuing education for Mental Health Counselor #MHC-0082
  • NEFESH International is recognized by the New York State Education Department's State Board for Social Work as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed social workers #SW-0048.
Refund Policy:
Full Refund until 48 hours before scheduled date.
48 hours before: full refund less $5.00 processing fee. After event no refund will be given.
*exclusions apply for reasonable need and cause.