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Suicide in YOUR School District

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somethingshiny

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Recently, our community lost its 4th student to suicide within the last 12 months. Our high school''s annual enrollment is 550-650 students. This number of suicides seems excessively high to me and I''m wondering what the "normal" rates are. This is the "big town" in our area and lots of the smaller communities look to this school district as an example. I fear that something is going wrong and will continue to spread. My first concern is that there isn''t enough education regarding depression, anxiety, etc for the students. Also, the school district is trying very hard to separate church and state and won''t allow local youth ministers to council the kids in the school.(of course some parents choose to go to their minister outside of school hours). The paid counselor has a bad reputation amongst the students and can''t make much headway. So it seems that most of the kids are not being helped through the tragedies effectively.


What are the suicide rates in your area?
What programs have been put in place to prevent/educate/recover?
Any thoughts?
 
There were 4 recent suicides in the area where I live, too. Somethingshiny, are you in Delaware County? Several churches and a couple of the local police forces have had programs on suicide prevention and how to tell whether a person might be suicidal. The schools don't seem to be effective at dealing with this. I don't know if it's due to incompetent guidance counselors, lack of funding or bureaucracy.

A lot of teenagers don't want to talk to their parents and don't trust teachers or guidance counselors. If the schools don't want clergy coming into the classrooms, they should be able to post a list of ministers, etc. that troubled students could talk with.
 
MB~ I live in IL. It''s very frustrating to see something this awful and really have nothing in place to prevent it or even identify the at-risk students.
 
SS--That does sound like an unusually high number to me. How tragic, I'm so sorry to hear that you've had so many suicides in your district.

I don't think blaming the schools is the solution. I know that most people's first response is to blame the schools, and I believe that is one of the reasons why we see persistent suicide rates amongst teenagers in this country--parents do not want to take responsibility for the mental health of their children. (I'm not saying YOU, SS, I'm just saying communities in general vilify the schools when these situations occur.)

If we want progress, we would be wise to look at the heart of the matter. If a parent truly spends the quality time she should spend with her child, she would be able to identify at-risk behavior. Teachers get 45 to 90 minutes a day with your child at most, and they share that time with another 30 children, AND they're trying to teach a lesson on top of it. There's a big difference there. And as teachers we do have an obligation to report at-risk behaviors, and we are trained on what to look for and how to deal with it when we see it. But really, why would you rely on a teacher to put up the red flag when her time with your child *should be* much less quality than *your* time with your child. (Again, I'm using the rhetorical "you" here, I'm not speaking to you, SS.)

I realize that some posters may respond that I sound cold here, but the opposite is true. I just think that people need to get real about the situation and take some responsibility for their children's well being. I lost a friend to suicide in high school, and you can bet your bottom dollar that my parents didn't rely on the public school system to support me through my grief. They took care of me, as they should have, because they are my parents and that is their job.
 
I''m pretty out of touch with the area school districts so I can only comment on my childhood in the 80s-90s. We had one suicide, a good friend of mine who was in the eight grade. I was in the seventh. She never came across as depressed or anything other than a normal 13-14 year old girl. Her death really shook the community.
 
Wow, that does seem like a lot. We just had a kid from here commit suicide, but he wasn''t in school, he was 20. In our area I can think of about 10 suicides that I''ve known of in my whole life, including adults. I can''t comprehend 4 just in 1 school and in 1 year.
 
Date: 4/13/2010 11:50:29 AM
Author: Haven
SS--That does sound like an unusually high number to me. How tragic, I''m so sorry to hear that you''ve had so many suicides in your district.

I don''t think blaming the schools is the solution. I know that most people''s first response is to blame the schools, and I believe that is one of the reasons why we see persistent suicide rates amongst teenagers in this country--parents do not want to take responsibility for the mental health of their children. (I''m not saying YOU, SS, I''m just saying communities in general vilify the schools when these situations occur.)

If we want progress, we would be wise to look at the heart of the matter. If a parent truly spends the quality time she should spend with her child, she would be able to identify at-risk behavior. Teachers get 45 to 90 minutes a day with your child at most, and they share that time with another 30 children, AND they''re trying to teach a lesson on top of it. There''s a big difference there. And as teachers we do have an obligation to report at-risk behaviors, and we are trained on what to look for and how to deal with it when we see it. But really, why would you rely on a teacher to put up the red flag when her time with your child *should be* much less quality than *your* time with your child. (Again, I''m using the rhetorical ''you'' here, I''m not speaking to you, SS.)

I realize that some posters may respond that I sound cold here, but the opposite is true. I just think that people need to get real about the situation and take some responsibility for their children''s well being. I lost a friend to suicide in high school, and you can bet your bottom dollar that my parents didn''t rely on the public school system to support me through my grief. They took care of me, as they should have, because they are my parents and that is their job.
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Oh for the love of pete, Thank you Haven! Ye gods, I''m sick of it all. PEOPLE, IT''S LACK OF PARENTING!!!! Before they walk in the DOOR, IT''S LACK OF PARENTING!!! AAAAAAHHHHH!!!!! (banging head)


Let''s just say there is a troubled teen - VERY troubled - in my hub''s school. Obvious for all to see. I don''t know the details - and it''s probably right that I don''t, but bottom line, the kid''s parents have been talked to. To the teachers'' and counselors'' discerning eyes, dad is slightly LD, and mom, by the descriptions of dad, is mentally not all there. That said, the kid threatened suicide recently. The school got wind of it and was running around madly trying to help. He didn''t do it BTW, but anyway NOW, the father who had before admitted that perhaps he and mom hadn''t done such a good job, is now blaming...(wait for it....) THE SCHOOL!! "Well he was fine until he started at the **** school." Sir, I seriously doubt that.


The schools are the last remaining delivery system for the social services that almost everyone in the freaking country has sat by and watched disintegrate without a whimper. THEY ARE GOING TO FAIL. HUGE.EPIC.FAIL. Because the schools cannot BE PARENTS AND GRANDPARENTS AND NEIGHBORHOODS AND COMMUNITY. They simply cannot pick up that level of slack.


I think I''m going to need to go post in the GET OVER IT thread here real soon.

 
Well.......

Ok, yeah, ideally everyone would like to have loving, caring parents that spend time with them and notice when things go bad. But this isn't a fairytale, and all kids don't have Stepford mothers. I believe that the kids are suffering because: 1) some have crappy parents 2) the schools don't want to take responsibility either.

SO.... if the parents absolutely don't give a crap... and the schools can't do much/ won't do much...... WHAT IS THE SOLUTION?

Perhaps, both should step up. The parents support the kids in case the school doesn't. The school supports the kids in case the parents don't.

I dunno, but this complaining and passing the buck off to someone else isn't helping. Meanwhile, kids will commit suicide, kill others, and won't get the help they need because the people that are supposed to be nurturing them, teaching them, and helping them grow up... are too busy pointing the finger at someone else.
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Date: 4/13/2010 1:05:47 PM
Author: ksinger

The schools are the last remaining delivery system for the social services that almost everyone in the freaking country has sat by and watched disintegrate without a whimper. THEY ARE GOING TO FAIL. HUGE.EPIC.FAIL. Because the schools cannot BE PARENTS AND GRANDPARENTS AND NEIGHBORHOODS AND COMMUNITY. They simply cannot pick up that level of slack.</P

You are utterly, tragically correct. This trend of parents abdicating their parental responsibilities to others has continued to escalate for the past 15 yrs.

I think I''m going to need to go post in the GET OVER IT thread here real soon.

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LOL, or you could abandon all reason and stop your stubborn adherence to logical thinking when you log on. Trust me, it keeps the blood pressure from blowing off the top of one''s head
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What you read about are the suicides that are brought to fruition. While in the past year there were no deaths attributed to suicide in my DD''s school I know of 2 attempted suicides. One boy jumped out a second story window hoping to break his neck. The second was DD''s best friend who slit her wrists (she continues to cut herself and has to be monitored carefully and is in Emotional Support classes). The girl had been seeing a psychiatrist for about a year. DD knew something was wrong, because she and DD used to be attached at the hip, until one day she started declining invitations to hang out and in school started having panic attacks in class, etc. One day last year she called me begging me to let her live with me. When I got her calmed down and spoke with her mom, her mom blew me off saying that this happens all the time and she''ll settle down. I was scared and worried that she would hurt herself and less than 2 months later she attempted suicide and spent the summer in a psychiatric hospital.

My neighbor''s grandson committed suicide 3 years ago (he went to DD''s high school) about 1 week before his senior prom. He had a girlfriend, was a good student in high school, well liked, got into the college of his choice, very outgoing, no signs at all that anything was wrong. No one had a clue other than his good friend killed himself a month before (different school) and it was difficult for him to accept his friend''s death. Even got counselling at school. His death shocked everyone.

I still feel guilty that I couldn''t have done more to prevent DD''s friend from attempting suicide. I called the school and told them what happened (the girl was being helped by the school''s CARES group). All lot of people were involved in helping her and yet she still tried to kill herself. To tell you the truth, I really don''t know what else anyone could have done to help her and thank God her mother found her before it was too late.
 
i totally agree Ksinger. Teachers should not be responsible for the suicides however I do feel that if a teacher notices odd, depressed, or bullying behavior, then they should be obligated to advise the parent. i am only a couple of towns over from South Hadley, MA which has been in the news for the girl committing suicide after severe bullying. It has come up that a teacher witnessed bullying behavior the day the girl committed suicide and said nothing. As soon as parents realize their child is having odd behavior or is advised from their school of something going on, the parents need to take charge and get their child the needed help before it is too late. I think in some cases though, a parent doesn''t realize just how depressed a child is and tries to just brush it off like "oh their just teenagers etc". But on the flip side, I knew a parent who did everything they could for their 20 year old and yet it still happened. Depression etc is a mental disease and sometimes all the help in the world cannot deter the inevitable unfortunately. So I feel that if a parent is actively trying to help their child, then the parent cannot be blamed. But if they are brushing it off, then they share in the blame.
 
Ksinger,

I hear you!!!

My husband previously worked as a teacher albeit in Elementary, both my in laws are retired teachers, with my MIL having been a headmistress in the last 10 years of her working life. It distresses me to see people blaming schools/teachers for all of society''s ills.

If you choose to bring a child into this world it is YOUR responsibility as a parent, to raise your child. In my opinion is school is there to impart knowledge. It is a not a substitute parent and nor should it be viewed as such.

With regards to the original question regarding suicide I am not sure as to how even parents can prevent such things. Here in the UK we have also seen an increase (sorry no stats only my own observation) in young people committing suicide. I am torn as to why this may be the case.

As I am an aunt to my 18 year old nephew I see him being exposed to things I never have been. As a teenager I loved various punk/goth bands. In the scene I was involved in, it was mostly for dramatic effect, white make up, vampire style clothing etc. It never ventured into dark places. My nephew''s music scene from the outside could be viewed in a very similar vein to my own at this age. However when he stayed over with us for 2 weeks last year I spent lots of time talking to him about the scene, the bands, the content of the lyrics. I was horrified. It made mention of rape, knives, maiming, murder, necrophilia, eating the dead. All sorts of disgusting things. My husband and I talked for hours both with him and without, trying to understand the attraction to this stuff. Boy, I can tell you it made for an interesting holiday home coming for my brother and his wife.

All his crowd are good students, going off to college and university etc and are into these bands. I would love to say it was just a phase but this stuff is mind warping. I really hope he grows out of it.

Also do an internet search on anything and you can access some of the most dark and depressing parts of human life. These kids are able to see this stuff and I feel they are under such pressures just being teenagers add in this sort of knowledge and the normal teenager depression intensifies.

Factor in the suicide websites, the way suicide is reported, celebrity suicides linked to sexual highs and you have a crazy crazy mix.

Sorry it was a ramble. I am just flinging it out there as to some of the reasons why my nephews view point to life/suicide are different to mine.

As a mother, an aunt and an every day citizen this stuff TERRIFIES me!
 
I do agree that the parents should be... parenting.


But what can be done for those kids with parents that won''t... that don''t??
 
Date: 4/13/2010 1:24:36 PM
Author: swedish bean
Well.......

Ok, yeah, ideally everyone would like to have loving, caring parents that spend time with them and notice when things go bad. But this isn''t a fairytale, and all kids don''t have Stepford mothers. I believe that the kids are suffering because: 1) some have crappy parents 2) the schools don''t want to take responsibility either.

SO.... if the parents absolutely don''t give a crap... and the schools can''t do much/ won''t do much...... WHAT IS THE SOLUTION?

Perhaps, both should step up. The parents support the kids in case the school doesn''t. The school supports the kids in case the parents don''t.

I dunno, but this complaining and passing the buck off to someone else isn''t helping. Meanwhile, kids will commit suicide, kill others, and won''t get the help they need because the people that are supposed to be nurturing them, teaching them, and helping them grow up... are too busy pointing the finger at someone else.
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Who said the schools don''t care or won''t do much?

And since when do you have to be a Stepford mother to care about whether you child wants to kill himself? That''s a frightening thought.

I don''t see how believing that parents need to take responsibility for their child''s emotional and physical well being is passing the buck. My point was that until we stop putting *all* the blame on the schools and realize that parents are in a much better position to see the warning signs and help their children, these suicides will continue to happen.
 
Date: 4/13/2010 1:37:36 PM
Author: swedish bean
I do agree that the parents should be... parenting.

But what can be done for those kids with parents that won''t... that don''t??
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I think the kids with parents that won''t or don''t parent are the most difficult cases. While the schools can (and should and DO) intervene when they see risky behavior going on with students, their rights only extend so far. Parents can refuse services, or deny that their child has a need, or just plain make their child unavailable for the services that a school is trying to provide, and there''s nothing a school can do about it. We cannot legally make a child stay after school hours so we can offer him help. We cannot legally put a child in any type of services if the parent denies those services. It''s a real problem, and an enormous tragedy.
 
Yeah, again.

I agree. Parents should be doing the dirty work.

But, I really believe that something else needs to be done. Not everyone has supportive parents. Not everyone even HAS parents... so........
 
I''m with you, Swedish Bean. I don''t know the solution, but I do know that blaming people who take on the job to EDUCATE students isn''t it.

It''s also a tragedy that schools are facing enormous budget cuts that make it more and more difficult to offer the types of services that the public demands. It''s hard to provide adequate counseling for a handful of students in need when you can''t even afford to buy the textbooks you need to educate them in the first place. As a nation we want the services, but we don''t want to support the schools. Tough, huh?
 
Schools stepping in is one thing but from what I saw whilst working at a college only so much can be done unless the parents or legal guardians give full consent! That was always the maddening part. If the parents didn''t give consent to some sort of intervention the college were powerless to act. Catch 22
 
Sorry, OK, I think what I''m trying to say is that...


I WISH there was some kind of program (and there might be ??) that advertises to kids, in school, or college kids. A local suicide hot line? Depression support? Something that is free, something that can be anonymous, and something that all kids have access to (black, white, rich, poor).

Make kids write down a "help sheet" with a list of their local depression/ suicide hotline number, a few numbers of friends, parents, neighbors, a name and number of their physician... I don''t know. I don''t have the answer to this, which is why I was asking.. what can/ should be done... I don''t know!!!
I do know that the whole situation is very near and dear to me and it breaks my heart to read these stories.
 
At least one kid committed suicide in my school district every single year I was in school from the sixth grade all the way up to my sophomore year of college (and there could have been more, but I honestly quit following the news on it because it was just too sad). I lost one of my very best friends to it in college, and I don''t know how I would''ve made it through the grief of his death without the support of my mom, brother, sister, and close friends. In his case, I think his parents'' total absence in his life had a great deal to do with his death, but at his funeral, his father made a comment about how it probably had to do with his friends (my friends, too) being a bad influence. Some parents simply refuse to accept responsibility for how their actions (or complete lack thereof) impact their children. The schools aren''t equipped to do parents'' jobs for them--it''s interesting how often they get blamed by the parents in these tragic cases. Seems to me like parents that quick to shirk any responsibility for their child do so because, deep down, they know they failed their child somehow. That being said, sometimes it isn''t anyone''s fault, and there are those who are sick enough that you can do anything and everything you can for that person, and it may still not be enough. It''s just so sad, though. As for preventive programs, etc. in schools, ours have information packets in the guidance office, and they stress talking to the counselors, but in my experience, it''s rare for the kids to actually take that route. They band together and deal with things among themselves, so it''s kind of like the blind leading the blind. twloha.com has links to a lot of help lines, etc. on their site, and I know people who have found their information helpful.
 
Just pulled this link from twloha.com and thought it was pretty cool. I also tested it out--I''m really nosy!
 
We don''t have many suicides, but we have an ungodly number of teenage/young adult car crash deaths. I''m talking 5 in the past six months... and this has been going on for over two years. We just had three more go into hospital on Sunday for a crash. It''s really depressing at this point, and I''m just blown away that the parents and school boards aren''t doing anything to deter one of the main causes (parties in the country with lots of beer).
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SS, that number seems super high, but suicides tend to cluster, one inspires another... Did you see Heathers back in the early 90s? In my district of 2,000 kids we haven''t had a "successful" suicide in 7 years, but there is an epidemic of girls cutting themselves, and a variety of other terrifying "cries for help." Your district is correct to keep pastors out of the schools, the ACLU and a variety of other groups will be on them with lawsuits so fast if they allowed that encroachment...lawsuits costing the district''s taxpayers tens of thousands of dollars. There are hours outside of the school day, usually about 15 or 16 a day when religion can be squeezed in. The school has to adhere to federal guidelines or they lose state and federal funding.

I am with Haven and Ksinger here. In a year my contractual job is to teach from 6,000BCE to today, all of world history to over 100 students that I see in 50 minute increments. They take a test at the end of the year, if they fail, I am inadequate and could have my pay docked, if they pass, they are talented students. I am also required by federal law to report warning signs of abuse (to self and by others), and next we are going to be required to stop these 17-18yr olds from teasing each other in the halls, online, and out of school. Somehow I need to stop them from drinking and driving too Dragonfly? Should I follow them home? be their friends on fb? How can I do this without magical Santa Clause like powers? Oh, and while grading hundreds of papers, writing them all letters of rec for college, coaching, advising 3 clubs, and running a program for depressed teenage girls all in my free (aka UNPAID) time?

How? Should I stop teaching history and ask them about their feelings? Quite honestly, my masters degrees are in history, I have limited training in Psychology. What percentage of my day should go into mothering these guys? They need it for sure, I call home and tell parents about carving into arms, clear cases of bulemia, anorexia, and bullying, but mostly parents tell me "thanks, but it is under control." I''ve had a mom tell me that her daughter had no eating disorder b/c daughter was "fatter than me" -direct quote from mom in front of daughter. Fathers claiming that cuts on wrists were because of dropped glassware and black eyes were just accidental. Don''t worry, I will continue to call the parents, and guidance counselors, and the police. It is my job. But when will society ever decide that teachers are responsible for enough parts of kids'' lives and that the parents have to provide for their own progeny?

Swedish Bean, just so you know, there are hundreds and hundreds of helplines, drop in clinics, safe houses etc out there. Do a quick google and you will find huge resources out there for high risk or depressed teens. These are however mostly funded by donations or taxes and you know how people feel about "helping the least among us!" My deep and personal thanks to those who pay their taxes with gratitude and those parents who keep a close and realistic eye on their kids. You make it possible for teachers to keep going when the world seems to be falling apart around us. Teachers, you know you have to wait till some sort of afterlife for any thanks or recognition, but know that this almost mom is happy to know that there are true professionals out there like KSinger''s husband (though I pray my child will never be in a school like his!) and Haven, Zoe Bartlett and so many other dedicated teachers around the world.


PS: Sorry for my rant, stayed an extra 4 hours with a student to help him figure out some ways to get through the day without smoking pot...we worked on his research paper a bit too. I''m 37 weeks pregnant, what more do you want to ask from teachers I beg of you?
 
I had a student "swear me to secrecy" and proceeded to tell me her bff was threatening suicide --boyfriend problems, home problems--and I told her of course I had to report it. She acted a little annoyed..but I told her I could lose my job if I didn't. She later came to me and admitted that she told me hoping I would do something.

I reported the threat to her case manager AND the principal. She was counseled and her mother was called in and did major backpedalling about her daughters problems. I was not included in the meetings, fortunately, because I didn't hear a direct threat. Supposedly she began sessions with the school psychologist


I've been unemployed for a while, but I haven't heard of any suicides from the district. There's just so much the professionals can do without the backing an support of the parents.
 
Date: 4/13/2010 6:58:12 PM
Author: swimmer
SS, that number seems super high, but suicides tend to cluster, one inspires another... Did you see Heathers back in the early 90s? In my district of 2,000 kids we haven''t had a ''successful'' suicide in 7 years, but there is an epidemic of girls cutting themselves, and a variety of other terrifying ''cries for help.'' Your district is correct to keep pastors out of the schools, the ACLU and a variety of other groups will be on them with lawsuits so fast if they allowed that encroachment...lawsuits costing the district''s taxpayers tens of thousands of dollars. There are hours outside of the school day, usually about 15 or 16 a day when religion can be squeezed in. The school has to adhere to federal guidelines or they lose state and federal funding.

I am with Haven and Ksinger here. In a year my contractual job is to teach from 6,000BCE to today, all of world history to over 100 students that I see in 50 minute increments. They take a test at the end of the year, if they fail, I am inadequate and could have my pay docked, if they pass, they are talented students. I am also required by federal law to report warning signs of abuse (to self and by others), and next we are going to be required to stop these 17-18yr olds from teasing each other in the halls, online, and out of school. Somehow I need to stop them from drinking and driving too Dragonfly? Should I follow them home? be their friends on fb? How can I do this without magical Santa Clause like powers? Oh, and while grading hundreds of papers, writing them all letters of rec for college, coaching, advising 3 clubs, and running a program for depressed teenage girls all in my free (aka UNPAID) time?

How? Should I stop teaching history and ask them about their feelings? Quite honestly, my masters degrees are in history, I have limited training in Psychology. What percentage of my day should go into mothering these guys? They need it for sure, I call home and tell parents about carving into arms, clear cases of bulemia, anorexia, and bullying, but mostly parents tell me ''thanks, but it is under control.'' I''ve had a mom tell me that her daughter had no eating disorder b/c daughter was ''fatter than me'' -direct quote from mom in front of daughter. Fathers claiming that cuts on wrists were because of dropped glassware and black eyes were just accidental. Don''t worry, I will continue to call the parents, and guidance counselors, and the police. It is my job. But when will society ever decide that teachers are responsible for enough parts of kids'' lives and that the parents have to provide for their own progeny?

Swedish Bean, just so you know, there are hundreds and hundreds of helplines, drop in clinics, safe houses etc out there. Do a quick google and you will find huge resources out there for high risk or depressed teens. These are however mostly funded by donations or taxes and you know how people feel about ''helping the least among us!'' My deep and personal thanks to those who pay their taxes with gratitude and those parents who keep a close and realistic eye on their kids. You make it possible for teachers to keep going when the world seems to be falling apart around us. Teachers, you know you have to wait till some sort of afterlife for any thanks or recognition, but know that this almost mom is happy to know that there are true professionals out there like KSinger''s husband (though I pray my child will never be in a school like his!) and Haven, Zoe Bartlett and so many other dedicated teachers around the world.


PS: Sorry for my rant, stayed an extra 4 hours with a student to help him figure out some ways to get through the day without smoking pot...we worked on his research paper a bit too. I''m 37 weeks pregnant, what more do you want to ask from teachers I beg of you?
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And none of that is supposed to have any emotional toll on you, is it Swimmer? Every apptitude test I''ve ever taken has said I''d make a good teacher, and I likely would for several reasons....except....something in my always knew that I didn''t have the emotional fortitude or boundaries to deal with the problems I know I would have to deal with. The hubs is infinitely more dispassionate than I - when he was younger, some might have even have called him cold, at times Vulcan-like. But even he - as tough-minded and logical as he is, comes home twisted up and just beaten down. It is hard to see, and hard for ME to deal with. I worry about his health and mental state at times. And judging by my reactions at times to some of the stuff I read here, my own state isn''t so great at times, and I just get a daily report. It''s plenty.
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As for the school like my husband''s - while it is definitely not beyond reproach and in need of improvement heaven knows, it''s not so uncommon, and as the poverty level in this country goes up - unaddressed - schools like his will increase. As people, understandably, do not wish their kids to attend an impoverished school, flee those areas and their schools if they can -siphoned off by the promises of charters or magnets or privates - it leaves an even greater concentration of disadvantaged students with terribly churned up home lives, food deprivation, and poor mental health, to name but a few strikes - thus INCREASING the difficulty of educating those kids whose parents aren''t motivated or fortunate enough to be able to get them out of poverty or bad neighborhoods. Again, I understand the motivation - and would think seriously about doing it myself if we''d had kids, but let''s be clear, we are killing public education with it, and STILL not addressing the real issues, which begin and continue outside the school. And those kids, that we admit in this very thread that we don''t know what to DO with - are NOT going away. And all the gated communities and private schools in the world are not going to save us from the wave of increased civil unrest and crime if we do not address the problems that help produce these kids.
 
I''m very out of touch with schools here too -I grew up elsewhere and don''t pay much attention to the school system.

Speaking from my childhood/adolescence - there were no suicides in any school I attended. I don''t even recall any suicides from the 4.5 years I spent in undergrad university.
 
Date: 4/13/2010 8:45:58 PM
Author: Maevie
I''m very out of touch with schools here too -I grew up elsewhere and don''t pay much attention to the school system.

Speaking from my childhood/adolescence - there were no suicides in any school I attended. I don''t even recall any suicides from the 4.5 years I spent in undergrad university.
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When I was in 10th grade my friend''s brother who was six years old went out on the front lawn, doused himself with gasoline and killed himself. His mother found him in the morning. The poor family was never the same--there were 4 surviving siblings and ALL of them developed drug/alcohol problems. The parents divorced 3 years later.
 
The area I lived in in Ireland experienced a rash of them - two of them at the same school during the same school year, and these are little towns with little schools so it was a lot - 6 total in 9 months. All girls. All hung themselves. It really bothered me and the community just got more and more tight lipped after each one.
 
swimmer-

While I''m aware that there are obviously help lines "in general"- it''s hard for a kid that is emotional and on the brink of suicide to be rational and search for suicide hotlines. Or even, do white pages. What I''m thinking is that if there was a campaign, posters and stuff that is PLASTERED all over walls in schools and doctor offices (or wherever these kids spend their time) they might be more likely to make a call if their know the resources ahead of time instead of when it''s too late. I also graduated HS in ''02 and there was nothing like this in my area-- perhaps yours is different.
 
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