About our ready-to-run training

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The easiest way to book our training for your team:

1. Select a date and time that works for you and your organisation.

2. Pay by debit/credit card, or request an invoice.

3. We'll contact you to agree and confirm your selected delivery time.

 

You will receive the details of your session and a Microsoft Teams link to provide to your attendees, and we'll deliver the session live and online. After the session, you will receive a report of the feedback from your participants and a resource pack to share with those who attended.

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This is a half-day session lasting 3½ hours.

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About this session

All universities need to have clear procedures in place for responding to the death of a student, to make sure support is offered, in a timely and effective way, to those who need it.  It is also important that everyone knows who is doing what, to prevent any duplication of action or any avoidable distress that could inadvertently arise through a lack of coordination.

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This half-day online session explores the key aspects of a university’s response to a student death – from how we can best support students during the first few hours following a death through to how we provide longer-term support for everyone who needs it. 

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The training is interactive and practical, with a focus on key skills that we can take away to use in our respective roles.  The session is also an important chance to ask questions and explore some of the trickier aspects of student death cases, as well as exploring how we can look after ourselves and support one another, as staff members, in this work.
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We also run a separate training course which focuses specifically on family liaison in student death cases.  Both of our main courses on managing student death cases are designed to complement each other, for those who want to attend both, or, alternatively, the courses can standalone, if preferred.

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Who is this session for?

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This session is relevant to colleagues who might find themselves having a role to play in responding to a student death.  This includes:

• Colleagues responsible for coordinating a university’s response to a student death – including directors of student services, university secretaries, or registrars

• Professional services managers and practitioners – including colleagues from welfare teams, wellbeing teams, mental health teams, international student support teams or other specialist support services

• Colleagues in faculties and academics – including faculty registrars, heads of school, senior tutors, and programme or module leaders

• University chaplains

• Communications or PR/media managers

• Colleagues working in a university enquiry service, a faculty or service front desk team, or a university helpdesk

• Accommodation staff

• Security managers/team leaders

• Students' union managers/advisers

 

While this training is aimed at higher education, colleagues in further education or other similar settings will also find the content very relevant.

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Learning outcomes

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By the end of this course, participants will:

• Explore the context in which this work is carried out within universities – including the impact of media interest and social media, and recent national guidance for universities on managing student deaths.

• Become familiar with the key features of an effective student death policy/procedure.

• Explore good practice in making contact with, and offering support to, the family and loved ones of a student who has died.

• Understand practical skills and strategies for coordinating and providing support to students – including responding effectively in the first few hours following a student death on campus, delivering bad news to students and drafting sensitive communications to student cohorts.

• Know how we can best look after each other as staff members in these cases and how we may be asked to participate in certain types of review and inquest that can follow a student death.