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Learn how schools can address the issue of suicide among students with a public health perspective. Collaboration with mental health providers and shared responsibility is key. Develop protocols, engage parents, and understand developmental considerations. Get equipped with skills and tools for intervention and risk assessment to create a safe and caring school environment.
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Suicide is a public health and school safety concern for schools. • “Schools are not responsible for meeting every need of their students. But when the need directly effects learning, school must meet the challenge.” (Carnegie Task Force on Education) • “And to meet the challenge schools and communities must work together.” (Public Health Reports, v.120, 2006)
PH rather than MH is the focus • Not medical/mental health care model • Public health • School Safety • Mandate is broader and includes primary prevention • Requires collaboration with MH providers and shared responsibility
Public Health Prevention Risk Resiliency Theory Social Ecological Model
Suicide safety happens in the context of a competent and caring school community Adapted from Caring and Competent Communities for Suicide Prevention, M. Underwood, SPTS
In a caring community: • We are all connected • We care about each other’s wellbeing and safety. Adapted from Caring and Competent Communities for Suicide Prevention, M. Underwood, SPTS
In a competent community: • Everyone has a role to play: Faculty, staff. administrators, students, parents, board and community care providers. • Everyone knows how, when and where to get help and is consistently inclined to do so. Adapted from Caring and Competent Communities for Suicide Prevention, M. Underwood, SPTS
Protocols & Procedures Framework forCreating Suicide Safety at School Parent Engagement & Community Support
Plan for helping a student at risk for suicide • Supported by procedures to: • intervene • collaborate • safety plan • notify parents • document • manage return to school
Developmental considerations CONCERN TIP Use developmentally appropriate language to describe the feelings of wanting to be dead. • Young children have a different understanding of permanence and universality of death. • May not know what suicide is.
Developmental considerations CONCERN TIP Gatekeepers should recognize and refer. Avoid repeat interviews. Keep a conversational tone. Interview parents and other adults who interact with student. Share documentation. Quote the child. • Young children change the story depending on the reaction of the adults interviewing them.
Developmental considerations CONCERN TIP Don’t be fooled. Provide brief interventions near the time of crisis. Try to identify triggers. • More immediate sense of time. • Crisis resolves quicker. • Don’t tolerate strong feelings as long.
Developmental considerations CONCERN TIP Interview for nuances of intention: What was the behavior communicating to who? Ask about exposure to death and suicide. • Intent of self-destructive behavior is often mixed. • More prone to social and emotional contagion.
Developmental considerations CONCERN TIP Don’t confuse the lethality of the attempt or plan with the desire/intent to die. Two very different things with kids. • Suicide attempts are often more impulsive. • Suicidal behavior gets more deadly over time. • More attempts to deaths than adults. • Don’t know what it takes.
Plan for helping a student at risk for suicide • With skills and tools to: • Understand & Intervene (ASIST) • Assess/Assign Risk (CSSRS) • Plan for safety (SPI) • Engage challenging students and parents (Lifelines) • With support from: • Community care providers
