Collaboration is key: School psychologists' experience in suicide intervention

School psychologists are key school-based personnel when responding to suicidal thoughts and behaviors. The present paper explored the experiences and attitudes of school psychologists, with a special focus on collaborating during suicide intervention activities. Using a descriptive phenomenological approach, a purposive sample procedure identified 10 school psychologists. Data were collected via in-person, semi-structured interviews. Most participants were female (n = 9) and all were practicing within the school setting and had delivered suicide intervention activities. Experiences described through interviews suggested collaboration while responding to suicide was a common activity that enhances the quality of services, external collaboration-though beneficial for students-can be a barrier to the provision of services, school psychologists cope through collaboration, and suicide intervention services would benefit from increased collaboration. Implications for practice include working to develop stable partnerships with external stakeholders and increasing collaboration during suicide assessment and response.