When You Are Worried About Suicide

Formulate why you are worried. You do not need to be specific, and no one expects you to assess suicide risk or whether a student is severely psychotic or manic.

1. Contact the student's student contact. The student contact will act as described below.
2. If the student contact is unavailable, you can contact the Head of Studies, Camilla Sønstabø Thorkildsen, or another member of the study administration.

If no one is available, then you can proceed as described below.

1. Write down the student's personal number and district. Enter the address in the district selector (oslo.kommune.no) to find the correct district.
2. Do you know if the student has a GP with SiO? If so, you can contact the GP by calling SiO at 22 85 33 00 and requesting an emergency appointment.
3. You can also contact the emergency team at the DPS (District Psychiatric Centre) to which the student belongs. Based on district affiliation (point 1), you can find out which DPS the student belongs to.

Call Oslo municipal emergency medical service/psychiatric emergency service at 116 117.

With the emergency service, you can discuss whether the Social Mobile Acute Service can call or visit the student. Mobile means outreach.

Only doctors/psychiatrists, and psychologists should conduct suicide risk assessments. At the DPS Acute Unit, the student will be assessed for suicide risk by a team including a doctor and psychologist/nurse. The DPS is responsible for the suicide risk assessment and the measures they offer the student. You are not responsible for the evaluation and measures taken. You can communicate with the emergency team if you disagree or believe you have the information they need. However, the DPS and acute department are responsible if they decide not to admit the student.

If you are concerned about someone's life, necessity overrides confidentiality. Discussing students anonymously with health personnel or the student health coordinator is not a breach of confidentiality if there is reason to be concerned about life. You should always provide the student's name and personal number to the DPS

Take care of each other: No one should handle a complicated case alone. Team up with colleagues and contact the DPS together. Contact the SiO Health Student Health Coordinator if you cannot access colleagues.

Debrief

SiO Health can offer debriefing sessions for educational staff after such incidents. Students who have experienced distressing events can book an appointment with a counsellor or therapist at SiO.

Employees also have the option to speak with a psychologist through NMH's Occupational Health Service, Falck Norge AS. This must be arranged with the Department for Human Resources.