Talking to a class about suicide safely

The evidence supports teaching this. It also has quite specific things to say about how, and the gap between "we should cover it" and "we covered it well" is where harm happens.

Before the lesson

Tell the safeguarding lead you are doing it, and when. Disclosures follow these sessions — that is a sign it worked, and somebody needs to be free afterwards.

Know which pupils are affected. Anyone recently bereaved by suicide, anyone with a current concern, anyone whose parent is unwell. They should be told in advance, privately, and given a genuine opt-out that does not require them to explain themselves in front of anyone.

Use a source that follows safe-messaging guidance. Well-meant material found online is one of the more common sources of unsafe content in schools — particularly video, and particularly anything dramatised.

Have the help routes ready and current. On the board, on a slip, and checked this term.

What to cover

• That distress is common, and that it changes
• That talking about it helps, and that asking someone directly does not plant the idea
• How to respond if a friend tells you something — including that you do not have to carry it alone
• Who specifically to tell in this building, by name
• How to get help without speaking, for the pupils who will not raise a hand

What to leave out

• Any method. Not named, not described, not implied, not in a video, not in a novel extract, not "we won't go into how".
• Detailed accounts of a specific death, especially a recent or local one.
• Anything presenting suicide as effective — as a release, as a way of being understood at last, as revenge, as a solution to bullying.
• A single cause. "He did it because he was bullied" is almost always false and it hands a template to a bullied pupil.
• Statistics used for shock. A dramatic number is remembered as inevitability rather than as information.

During

Set the ground rules first. Nobody has to speak. Nobody shares somebody else's story. Anyone can leave without asking.

If a pupil discloses in front of the class, do not shut them down and do not let it become the lesson. Thank you — that's really important and I want to talk about it properly with you afterwards. Then move on, and follow up before the end of the day, without fail.

If someone volunteers method detail, interrupt gently and redirect. I'm going to stop you there — we don't talk about that part, and here's why. The explanation is itself worth teaching.

Watch the room, not the slides. The pupil who has gone very still is the one to speak to afterwards.

Afterwards

Stay available. Be in the room at the end, visibly unhurried. Most disclosures happen in the following ten minutes or the following two days.

Tell the safeguarding lead what came up, even if nothing seemed to.

Expect a lag. Some pupils will come to you a fortnight later, once they have decided you can be told.

Do it again. A single lesson in year 9 is not a programme. Repetition across years, in small doses, is what the evidence supports.

For assemblies specifically

Higher risk than classroom teaching, because there is no discussion, no way to gauge reactions, and no opt-out. Keep it short, keep it to "help exists and here is how to get it", and never use an assembly to announce or discuss a specific death.

After a death in the school community → · Myths about suicide →