Clinicians as Suicide Loss Survivors: Postvention for Caregivers
Clinicians as Suicide Loss Survivors: Postvention for Caregivers
In this course, Dr. Vanessa McGann, Ph.D., Chairman of the Loss Division of the American Association of Suicidology, Co-chair of the Clinician Survivor Task Force, explains the personal and professional issues which clinicians confront when their client dies by suicide. She shows how judgments around competence, disenfranchised grief, potential legal/ethical issues, and internalised stigma effects can all undermine a clinician’s work after a client suicide.
About this course
In this course, Dr. Vanessa McGann, Ph.D., Chairman of the Loss Division of the American Association of Suicidology, Co-chair of the Clinician Survivor Task Force, notes that client suicide is “an occupational hazard” encountered by 50% of psychiatrists and 22% of psychologists. Though not generally trained to deal with this issue, clinicians go through a grief process after suicide which may be disenfranchised. McGann discusses the factors and client/patient variables that affect the grieving process. Professional stigmatisation and potential legal/ethical issues take their toll on clinical work and professional identity, but there can be post-traumatic growth as well as PTSD if a psychological review (“autopsy”) is conducted, if the client’s family is contacted with compassion, and if supervisors can be supportive.