Awareness key to preventing teen suicide
Why young people take their lives remains a mystery. Even known risk factors - such as a history of suicide attempts, a family history of suicide or mental illness, substance abuse, recent stress, and easy access to lethal methods - can't always explain such a tragedy. Nor does having risk factors mean someone will commit suicide.
But one thing is clear: Prevention methods, including greater awareness by teachers, parents, and friends, can help reduce suicidal behaviors.
The Pennsylvania Child Death Review team investigates the circumstances around a child's death and what factors might have prevented it. Of the deaths reviewed in 2011, local teams found 86 percent of suicide deaths were preventable, says Erich Batra, co-chair of the Pennsylvania Youth Suicide Prevention Initiative and medical director of the review team.
Suicide is now the third-leading cause of death among teenagers in Pennsylvania and fourth in New Jersey. (It's second nationally.) The 2013 Youth Risk Behaviors Survey shows that 17 percent of respondents considered suicide in the preceding 12 months, 13.6 percent had developed a plan, and 8 percent reported trying to take their own lives.
In response, Pennsylvania recently enacted a law, sponsored by State Rep. Frank Farina (D., Lackawanna), requiring school personnel to be trained in suicide prevention and mental health awareness and requiring school districts to develop policies on youth suicide. Other components include a suggested curriculum for students to raise prevention awareness and understand mental-health issues more broadly. Implementation will begin in the 2015-16 school year.
"A lot of people came together to make this bill a reality," says Batra. "It's amazing how many people suicide has touched. Everyone has a story."
Online materials for schools on prevention, intervention, and postvention (dealing with the effects of a death) are available free or at low cost.
"We needed to increase awareness," says Batra. "The goal was not to make teachers into mental-health counselors, but to make people aware of the need to refer students who might be having trouble to a trained counselor.
"We feel like you need three elements. You need policy so people know the infrastructure: who does what when something happens. The staff needs to be trained to know policies and procedures for answering children's questions. And students need to understand that when they notice a friend in trouble, some secrets should be shared."
Eleven years ago, a 15-year-old male student in Joe Vulopas' high school English class at Cocalico High School in Lancaster County committed suicide. After hearing the news, Vulopas - the last teacher to talk with the student - headed back to his classroom to stare at the student's desk and reconsider what he might have missed or done.
"If you had talked to me about depression then, I would have had no idea," says Vulopas, who testified in hearings for the suicide-prevention initiative.
Today, besides teaching English, Vulopas serves as executive director of Aevidum/"I've Got Your Back," a club started by Cocalico students in response to the young man's death. Aevidum has 75 chapters in high schools across the state, with plans to expand into high schools and colleges in Philadelphia.
Serving students in kindergarten through 12th grade, the group uses original songs, videos, and public-service campaigns to spread its message of openness, connectivity, and sensitivity in dealing with suicide and depression.
"Factors which lead a young person to take their life are never simple," says Batra. "Sometimes changes that occur are part of normal adolescence, like changing friendships or withdrawal, which can make factors for suicide tougher to pinpoint."
There are also misconceptions. Batra says people may draw a direct link between bullying and suicide, but although both the bullied and those who bully are at a higher risk for suicide, "there is little research on an exact cause-and-effect relationship."
To protect students at risk, Batra says, all members of the school community need to be on alert. "Behavior that might not be noticed by a teacher might be noticed on a school bus or playground," he says.
Suicide-prevention awareness can also be tied into school shootings, which often involve not only homicides, but also suicides.
"The person often has mental illness and knows that they're not going to survive the episode," says Batra. "From Sandy Hook to Columbine, it goes back to promoting a culture of tolerance and acceptance in the schools."
The next steps include meetings with the Pennsylvania Department of Education to work out a model policy on suicide prevention for schools. Teachers can now receive training through an online program developed by the Society for Prevention of Teen Suicide and receive ACT 48 credits, all at no cost to school districts.
"Suicide is not only the death of an individual," Batra says. "It affects the family and the school at such a raw level. Anything we can do to help we need to do it."
RESOURCES FOR SUICIDE PREVENTION
The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention www.afsp.org
The Society for the Prevention of Teen Suicide parent video www.sptsusa.org
Aevidum/"I've Got Your Back" http://aevidum.com
