Key concepts in the national guidelines: "Suicide exposure" and "levels of care"

This article is an extended excerpt from the document Responding to Grief, Trauma, and Distress After a Suicide: U.S. National Guidelines, rewritten to emphasize, expand upon, and clarify two key, interrelated concepts introduced in the Guidelines. First, everyone exposed to a suicide fatality, regardless of their relationship to the deceased, may require support services to ameliorate the effects of that exposure. Second, a systemic response to suicide ought to be organized around three levels of care, designed and implemented strategically to meet people's immediate needs, their need for ongoing support, and any clinical treatment needs that arise from their exposure to the fatality.