WASHINGTON — The recent suicide of a seventh-grader at a Montgomery County middle school has put the focus on how schools and communities deal with the issue of youth suicides.
Karen Kanefield, director of training and accreditation at the , says the fear that getting kids to talk about suicide could cause a child or teen to take their own life is — in her words — misguided. 鈥淭alking about suicide simply isn鈥檛 going to change what was going on in the at-risk student鈥檚 life. And it鈥檚 not going to change someone who鈥檚 not at-risk and suddenly put them at risk.鈥�
The fact that someone so young could be moved to take their own life — and on a school campus —聽 has shocked the community, but Kanefield says there are cases of even younger children ending their own lives, though it鈥檚 rare. According to AAS, suicide is the second-leading cause of death for people ages 15 to 24.
Kanefield says the American Association of Suicidology created The , which features direct outreach to young people. Kanefield says it鈥檚 important to engage kids in the effort: 鈥淎 lot of times as adults, we think we have these great ideas鈥� for prevention programs, 鈥渁nd when we bounce them off a teenager, they kind of roll their eyes.鈥�
So instead, Kanefield says, her organization has developed a program that allows young people to reach out to each other. 鈥淵ou can talk until you鈥檙e blue in the face about going to see your guidance counselor or talking to your parent, but that really won鈥檛 make a difference if they simply won鈥檛 go talk to those people.鈥�
The 鈥淯 OK?鈥� program asks students to help in shaping prevention programs in their school communities. At the same time, Kanefield says, it鈥檚 important for schools to have plans in place to assist kids. Kanefield says, 鈥淚t鈥檚 one thing to ask a student 鈥楢re you OK?鈥�, and then if the child responds 鈥楴o, I鈥檓 not OK,’ you need to know what to do. And it鈥檚 really the responsibility of the school to have a plan in place.鈥�
about talking to your kids about suicide, or helping someone you care about.
Find crisis centers . Click on your state/jurisdiction to see centers in 聽your area.
Additional resources:聽
- (you can also call 703-573-5679 24 hours a day, 7 days a week)
聽海角精品黑料’s Kate Ryan contributed to this report.
