Date of Paper

12-2016

Type of Paper

Clinical research paper

Degree Name

Master of Social Work (M.S.W.)

Department

Social Work

First Advisor

Jessica Toft

Department/School

Social Work

Abstract

Suicide is the tenth leading cause of death in the United States. Often, a person who has committed suicide had suffered from some sort of mental illness. Mental health workers are at risk for experiencing a client death by suicide at some point in their career. This systematic review was designed to explore what supports are available for mental health workers after a client suicide, and how effective those supports are. The review used peer-reviewed articles from databases Social Work Abstracts, PsycNet, SocIndex and GoogleScholar. These databases were systematically searched and 10 articles met criteria. From these articles, seven themes were identified as being helpful supports to mental health workers after a client suicide: 1) preparatory training; 2) group debriefing/discussion; 3) personal support system; 4) collegial support/shared experience; 5) supervision; 6) perspective of client’s right to self-determination; and 7) recommendations for what to avoid. More research is required in order to understand what structured interventions may be beneficial to mental health workers after a client suicide.

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