The Suicide Prevention Action Plan 2025–2029 sets out 34 actions agencies will undertake to prevent suicide. The actions are focused on addressing gaps and providing more people with access to support when they need it. Implementation of the action plan is led by the Ministry of Health. The Ministry of Education is responsible for two actions:

• Action 1: Strengthen support provided to students experiencing self-harm and after a suicide through implementation of postvention and self-harm resources in schools (Ministry of Education)
• Action 2: Promote appropriate communication about suicide using the updated postvention and self-harm resources for school staff and whānau (Ministry of Education).

Support for schools#

The Ministry of Education seeks to deliver on these priorities and provides support to schools and kura in three ways.

Traumatic incident teams#

Traumatic incident teams, based in all Ministry offices, offer immediate support after a ‘suspected suicide’ or critical incident. The traumatic incident team is available 24hours a day, 7 days a week on 0800 TI (0800 848 326) so schools can talk with experienced professionals to access the support needed.

Two new resources#

Postvention: A guide for schools after a suspected suicide has been developed by the Ministry of Education with health partners. 

Self-harm guidelines for schools has been developed by Auckland University which are available to school boards and schools. 

Self-Harm guidelines for schools

These new resources replace the Preventing and Responding to Suicide: Resource kit for schools, originally launched in 2013, and updated in 2019.

We are developing information about using these resources with the New Zealand School Boards Association (NZSBA). These resources support school leaders and teachers to provide a caring, well considered response to a self-harm and after a ‘suspected suicide’ that affects their school community. 

Cross-agency partnerships#

Ministry staff are working across agencies, with schools and in communities to provide the supports to understand, implement and utilise both the self-harm and postvention resources effectively.

More about these resources#

Self-harm#

Self-harm among young people is a complex global problem. Schools could facilitate young people who self-harm to access multilevel interventions. However, schools require support and collaboration from support services such as specialist mental health to implement evidence-based best practices for self-harm.

Self-harm guidelines provide schools and kura with standardised, best-practice guidelines. The guidance highlights the importance of strong community networks and communication to provide localised, culturally safe responses to self-harm. We are working with NZSBA and other organisations to provide schools and kura with information and resources to support to use the guidance. 

Postvention#

The evidence for effective postvention is beginning to emerge. Suicide is a significant psychosocial stressor for those bereaved by suicide.  

People bereaved by suicide experience additional impacts that affect their wellbeing. This can include experiencing suicidal thoughts and behaviours. Suicide postvention is increasingly recognised as important for wellbeing.

Postvention interventions for those bereaved by suicide in Aotearoa are increasingly recognising the importance of culturally specific grieving practices to minimise unhelpful approaches to loss and grief or represent these experiences as a mental health crisis.  

The two new resources are Suicide Postvention (Ministry of Education’s Traumatic Incident Service team with external partners), and Self-Harm (Auckland University) resources are supported by the Traumatic Incident Service Support. Both guides will help school leaders and teachers to provide a caring, well considered response to a self-harm and after a ‘suspected suicide’ affects their school community. Both resources promote appropriate communication, student resilience and help-seeking in difficult times.