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Suicide Prevention Training

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Training video on suicide prevention.

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I had my ups and downs just like anybody else maybe more than anybody else I can be hard to figure out my privacy I don't want you looking over my shoulder time you know what your kid better than anybody else and if you think she's acting different than usual acting really down crying all the time for no good reason we're getting really mad not able to sleep or sleeping too much more friends out or give our stuff away acting Reckless drinking using drugs staying out late so we not doing stuff used to love it might be nothing to worry about it might just be high school or it might be something more she might be depressed now just feeling down really depressed just thinking about killing himself it happened more than you think more than it should hello my name is Katherine Kerr I'm a school psychologist today Oregon about an hour talking about suicide prevention it's a very important topic and one that we can all have impact on how we can all work on in the schools in the course of an area meet several people know me Karen is a neurologist who's also a parent and lost her son to suicide give me Cameron who's a student who struggled with Suicidal Thoughts in high school you're also going to meet Charles and Holly who are teachers who deal with this in their classroom Christy here's a counselor and Scott the principal of a school that is how to student by Suicide as work to put the school back together it's all very important information I think something that is when we work together we can have an impact on saving lives in 2007 Tennessee pass the first Jason Flatt act the Jason Flatt provides for school districts everywhere and teachers everywhere to have at least an hour a year as Suicide Prevention Jason lost his life at 16 to suicide and his parents and their foundations work very hard to pass adjacent what act since that time 19 others to pass the act so what we're doing today is talking about suicide prevention the warning signs what to do with the classroom and then what to do as a school if you have a tragedy in your school different factors that may cause a teenager to have thoughts of suicide but the most common is depression these individuals have feelings of anxiety and hopelessness I feel trapped in a life they cannot hand in some cases these youngsters believe that suicide is the only way to resolve their problems Weiss pressure seem too much to cope with and some young people view suicide as a welcome Escape are certain teenagers who are at risk for suicide these individuals have personality characteristics or patterns of behavior that make them more at risk than other students perfectionist this individual has high expectations and they also have a tendency for tunnel vision for example I must reach high honor roll no ifs ands or buts these expectations aren't reached devastating or even unbearable for this person the teen who is gay or lesbian adolescent struggle to understand sexuality but the person who also is questioning his or her son Shoring taken as additional feelings of confusion and loneliness research shows that gay teens are up to four times more likely to attempt suicide then their heterosexual counterparts if they've been rejected by their they become eight times more likely the drug or alcohol abuser research shows that children who are depressed are more likely to develop alcohol problems once they reach adolescence and teens that have had an episode of major depression are twice as likely as those who aren't depressed to start drinking alcohol the presence of depression coupled with an increase in the impulsivity that is caused by intoxication Hasty students at high risk for suicide the youngster who is a self-harmer self-harm is the intentional and delivered her to give oneself self-harming can take many forms what's the most common is cutting these individuals may shy away from recreational activities appear withdrawn and wear long sleeves and pants regardless of the weather teenagers May self-harm for many reasons to escape shillings to cope with life stressors or to punish themselves they offer black appropriate coping skills and suffer from low self-esteem the male teenager is at risk while being mailed is not predisposed anyone to suicide statistics show that 78% of all suicides are committed by males girls think about it attempt suicide about twice as often as boys tend to temp suicide by overdosing on drugs or cutting themselves as die by Suicide about four times as often as girls perhaps because they tend to use more lethal methods such as Firearms hanging or jumping Heights individual with the family history those with a family history of suicide suicide attempts depression and other psychiatric disorders are at higher risk for suicide the nose with no family history person who has a history of attempted suicides 20 to 50% of Those who commit suicide have made serious attempted suicide in the the youngster who is being bullied by others a recent study by Yale University indicated that victims of bullying are between 2 to 9 times more likely to consider suicide victims some additional factors that may contribute to teen suicide include divorce of parents difficulties finding success rejection by friends or peers take out between boyfriend or girlfriend death of someone close is suicide of a friend or someone he or she knows online in adults various parts of the brain work together to choices make decisions and act accordingly need situation the teenage brain doesn't appear to work like this the prefrontal cortex is a section of the brain that weighs outcome form judgment and controls impulses and emotions the prefrontal cortex is immature and teenagers as compared to adults it may not fully developed until their mid-twenties this makes adolescence teenagers more prone or more likely to act on impulse rather than thought the young person going through a crisis may not be able to look past the here and now as adults we understand that many problems things will improve or even go away given time however young people are not hardwired to think this way and an adolescent in crisis coupled with an immature prefrontal cortex can produce a negative outcome is Educators we have the ability to observe and identify the individuals that are having thoughts of suicide four out of five teens who attempt suicide give clear warning signs so what signs do we need to look warning signs of suicidal ideation include but are not limited to the following talking about suicide making statements about feeling hopeless helpless or worthless a deepening depression rage uncontrolled anger or seeking Revenge preoccupation with the deaf taking unnecessary risks or exhibiting self-destructive Behavior debiting out-of-character Behavior increased alcohol or drug abuse a loss of interest in the things he or she used to care about withdrawing from friends family and Society making a rain setting one's Affairs in order anxiety agitation I'm able to sleep or sleeping all the time you're manic mood changes expressing no reason for living or no sense of purpose in life giving prize sessions away if you witness a person that's exhibiting signs of suicidal ideation or if you feel that an individual is in imminent danger of suicide call nine-one-one immediately or take this person to emergency room or mental health walk in clinic never leave this person alone and remove any Firearms alcohol drugs or sharp objects from the individual surroundings take all talk or threats suicide seriously and never keep a suicide plan a secret do not minimize this person's feelings but treat him or her was respect and understanding offering emotional support it's important that upper I'm considering suicide feel loved and wanted never try to shame the individual into changing his or her mind but instead show this person that is possible to overcome life challenges and make sure that he or she know you were willing to help I'm Karen Arkin and I'm a neurologist today I'd like to share with you some very troubling statistics suicide is the second leading cause of death for ages 10 to 24 more teenagers and young adults die by Suicide than from cancer heart disease AIDS birth defects stroke pneumonia influenza and chronic lung disease combined each day in our nation there are an average of 5400 attempts by young people grade 7 to 12 when young person dies by suicide every 95 minutes LGBT youth are four times more likely to attempt suicide as their straight peers 4 out of 5 to attempt suicide have given clear warning signs I unfortunately lost a son to Suicide approximately a year ago she was a wonderful child from the earliest signs of a personality it was clear that he was a perfectionist he was not going to accept anything less than being perfect no matter how much we tried to get him to just relax and enjoy life he excelled and ever he did he was a National Merit scholar he was an eagle scout but he told me at the age of 12 that he felt suicidal this is such a tragedy suicide among are used it's such an epidemic I feel very very passionate about making a difference my husband who is also a neurologist and I and Ally Dawson another mom who lost 17 year old daughter to suicide we've joined together and started a foundation called speak up. Us and we are working very hard to spread the message through school dist that so many lives can be saved it just takes our attention we need to look for children that team despondent or that seem too hard on themselves or that have a tough home situation if a child ever says anything about being depressed or having suicidal thoughts please take him very very seriously it is so hard for these kids with all adolescent bravado and all the appearance of perfection with social networking in their peers to admit that they suffer and they often suffer so deeply and I just wish that my son could have been saved we've lost a lot of beautiful young people forever many brilliant sensitive children that just they're too sensitive for this world and I ordered you please look for the signs take it seriously and try to get them to speak up about their feelings UST can make such a powerful difference you spend more hours a day with our kids then parents do you have the power to save young lives I'd like everyone remember the statistic that one young person dies by suicide every 95 minutes that's for during your average school day for young beautiful Lives full of potential loss to the world forever that's breaking people say I have no idea I thought it was just a phase he was going through I never thought she'd do it I wish you'd come to my wishing said something wish I'd said something so if you think you're talking to if she seems like a different person say something say what's wrong how can I help and ask straight out are you thinking about telling yourself it doesn't hurt to ask in fact it helps when people are thinking about killing they want somebody to ask they want somebody to care put the idea in their head believe me it doesn't work that way it doesn't hurt the teenager from killing yourself is to a are you thinking about killing yourself and what if they say yes or maybe sometimes that's crazy it's all over it's not going to solve anything you're just trying to get attention you're not going to kill yourself Camry and when I was a junior in high school Iowa diagnosed with depression and social anxiety disorder and I attempted suicide up until that point I had been a relatively healthy happy well-adjusted well-rounded student make good grades I was involved into connectivity it's cool I wasn't but I was well-liked by my peers and teachers but I went through some pretty traumatic experiences and I never found a way to really deal with them I felt a lot of pain and anger and frustration and confusion and I started to turn all of those feelings in word I started to skip class my grades dropped I isolated myself from my friends I started thinking about hurting myself I had trouble getting out of bed in the mornings and I my hygiene started to suffer a go days without taking a shower I would pretty teenage girl you know it was kind of a big deal I just hated myself and I hated my life and I didn't know what to do and I was really lost and confused so if you have student that is exhibiting some of that behavior there are some things you can do to help if you see one of your students who was withdrawn they're not participating as much they're not interacting with their friends at their peers is much you can reach out you can reach out to them and that's okay you don't have to be afraid really what students need to know is that someone cares that someone cares about them and cares about their livelihood and that they're not alone I think hardest part of dealing with depression is feeling like I was crazy or weird or that I would be stuck this way forever but I had the support of friends and family and one teacher who was able to go to the right people and then get me the help that I needed are some warning signs that you can look out for suicidal attempts were family history of suicide talking about suicide or making suicidal references or threats expressions of hopelessness or helplessness indirect expressions of feeling like a burden to friends or family some of the changes that you might notice might be a change in their mood and increase in sadness depression anger changes in appearance as if they don't seem to care can't find the energy to care changes in sleeping patterns whether they're sleeping too much or not enough for not wanting to get out of bed you might notice a decrease in energy or decrease interest in Social actions or activities you might notice a decrease in their school or class attendance increase in Risky Behavior or disregard for safety or a self respect the kitties dressed in black that catches your attention it could be someone like me who is just your average high school kid who was dealing with some tough time and didn't know how to process the remote and feelings and I really lost I was really fortunate to have teachers and counselors who believed in me and cared about me and you were supportive and they checked in with me in the mornings when I got to school to make sure I was okay they let me know that it was okay if I need to take a mental health day every now and then just to take care of myself school got to be too much and they were able to be flexible with me about dead lions and I made sure that I wasn't too overwhelmed with my school work they were accommodating when I was having a tough day and if I needed to leave class with a counselor or just to be alone emotions they were completely understanding of that I wouldn't be here today without their support and I'm really really grateful just make sure you're watching out for those signs there are a lot of things you can do helping students they need your support what you do say is I'm sorry you're feeling so bad how can I help get through this together keep you safe A lot of people think about killing themselves adults and kids most never tried but some of them do so if your kid says I'll be better off dead going to kill myself take her seriously find someone she can talk to about it someone who knows how to help I'm Charles golden and I teach high school English as teachers we have the opportunity to understand things about our students that are overlooked by many people in their lives sometimes we fight things that are going on in their lives through conversations we have with them sometimes through observing the classroom demeanor sometimes to the work that they submit to us as teachers we need to learn and look for the warning signs of suicidal thought and if you're concerned act immediately don't leave the student alone walk the student to the office call the parents reach out to an administrator ask questions for example I'm worried are you okay asked that question twice you might get a different answer the second time contact the parents with your concerns refer to student and then follow up with school mental health purse the counselor psychologist nurse and administrator continue to show care and concern to the student continue to watch for warning signs report if the student does not seem to improve overtime as we continue working with the student will see changes in the students behavior sometimes the students will seem happier sometimes they all seem stressed again sometimes will be more concerned than when we initially made referral to the school mental health personnel and those times we need to keep the lines of communication open with both the family and the student and the school health dental personnel as teachers we often worry about breaking comp this is one of the most challenging aspects of working with a student with a mental health issue the student is told us something that is personal and potentially embarrassing what we need to remember in those times is that reality does not extend to suicidal ideation when were concerned about the student that he or she might harm himself or herself another individual or even ourselves we really need to go ahead and make contact immediately with other people in the building who need to know about the student struggles I can tell you that working with the student who expresses Suicidal Thoughts is very important work and it's work that is hard to do it's uncomfortable work not too long ago our school babe very successful suicidal prevention program at the end of that program teachers were encouraged to go back to our classrooms and talk frankly with students about the need to let others know if they felt they might harm themselves we were encouraged to share purse anecdotes that might be helpful to build trust with students so that if they had thoughts they would feel comfortable talking to us I went back to my classroom that day and share with my students that as a twenty-year-old I had struggled with suicidal thoughts I think the students in my class were surprised by my calendar I didn't really think much about the conversation afterward for weeks and weeks and even months but one Friday several months later I received an email that I saw at home when I was with my we were getting ready for a fun evening together and it was as soon as cry for help immediately started emailing professional the building I reached out to the school psychologist I reached out to our system principles I reach out to my principal I sent probably a dozen emails and made two or three phone calls until I got a hold of somebody right then and finally I had a conversation with my principal who then reached out to the family and began the process of making sure that the student was immediately safe that the student and the family had the support that they needed and that they could arrange for follow-up conversations than this week in our school overtime a team of teachers mental health personnel administrators continued working with the student to make sure that the student was receiving the help that she needed and over that time they were many times when we were concerned that the student might be doing better or doing worse but we kept the conversational lines open with in the professional community at school and from school home to make sure we were all we doing all we could to help support the students needs the warning signs and some of things teachers could do in the classroom snail is Turner attention to things that are protective factors things to help keep safe and also Community referrals and then what to do with a school if you have a tragic hi my name is Holly McCoy and I am a teacher in a high school where I get to work with students every day and some of those kiddos that we know have struggles we are one of those contact point for them so as we look at the protective factors for kids one of the biggest things that we can do is build a relationship with those students our community and the families and the other friends that those students have all together as what can really help those kids survive what they are going through those contacts become really important to students and when we as teachers know who their friends are no other friends that will stick together with them and it's really helpful for us to help make those connections and work with those students together we have to be flexible when they're going through these types of times in their lives and it's hard for them academic sometimes is the last thing that's important to them and his teachers we need to realize that I'm not ever going to throw it out the window but that their health and their mental Wellness is the most of something if we can get them involved in different school activities if we can get them connected with the right group to be with whether it's a teacher-led group or a student-led group or a club all of those things are known to help those stew I had a student a few years back who is now probably either graduating college are almost there who made a special connection and she had different struggles and things that she went through and I believe that being that person in the building that she knew she could go to made a difference in her life and we even continue to connect that first year she was in college she actually even babysat my own children and his flourished into just a remarkable young lady had a really dark part. Of her life when he was in the high school so I think these connections are really really important and it's a teacher don't feel like you can't protect that child and get involved don't feel like you're overstepping your boundaries know your know the student know the risks that they have and know that they need you and you'll probably get just as much out of it in the end sometimes kids want to kill themselves because something happened I break up a failure but sometimes it goes deeper and it's not going to go away by itself get some help touch your doctor or counselor at school or your minister but don't just let it drop make sure that your kid always have someone to turn to weather right back 3 4 5 names for the suicide hotline number where to have him keep that list in his wallet so we always knows where to turn hi high school counselor weather is really a process when a student is experiencing suicidal ideation or Suicidal Thoughts it doesn't all go away because they've told someone while they may experience a sense of relief now I have someone to share carry the Spurs they really still will need some some support from the school while we get Services together while we arrange for some counseling or perhaps an assessment or even after the crisis after we have referred the student to community services or to a therapist or sometimes even to the emergency room if necessary after that when the student returns to school sometimes it's the very next day sometimes it's a few days or weeks later but when they return that doesn't mean that everything is better so they still need some time to adjust and that's where those protective factors are really critical that's when it's important for everyone to cut a wrap their arms around that student and help him get through this next dap when it comes to protecting students from suicide so at that point it's really important that we consider what our expectations are for that student we want to make sure that commit services are in place we want to make sure that that student has a safe place to go and as a counselor I find that safe place is often my office but not always sometimes I find that students have a fantastic relationship with a teacher and it may not even be a teacher that's on their their schedule currently could be a teacher they had last semester or even last year but someone in the building where they feel safe where they can go and just relax for a little bit you know the students often why get back at the regular life as much as they can but they're not always ready so if a student goes to class and finds that I'm unable to focus I can't really even hear what the teacher saying I can see their mouth moving but nothing's really coming through I'm getting nervous not feeling good then knowing that they can quietly leave that room and go to their safe place to relax have a few minutes if necessary they want to talk sometimes kids don't sometimes I just want to go and feel safe and have some quiet and peace sometimes they want to go and they want to tell you this is what this is what I'm thinking about this what's going on in my mind this is what I'm really scared about and that's important to really being up the best listener that you can possibly can resist the temptation to say it's all okay you're fine rather I'm so glad you told me let's work on this together that's really what a student needs to hear at this phase of the crisis so it comes to finding those students who really need our help most of those referrals will come from teachers or administrators and often Pierce other students will come in and let us know how worried about my friend on occasion as soon as for themselves which is also especially helpful I would assume comes and tells us that they're worried about their friend then it's time for us to take immediate action right away we need to make contact with that student and assess the situation and then we follow that with contacting parents and providing all the resources that we can that will help them through this crisis what a concern comes up student safety is the first priority everything else is put on hold must be monitored at all times parents are notified and maybe ask to come in for a school conference when we have parents come in we want to let them know that we care about their student and that we need them to understand that we have serious concern for the students safety and well-being emergency referrals are made to Community Resources for a suicide assessment at that point students sometimes will go to an emergency room or to a mental health provider where they will ask a series of questions to to really understand how immediate is the crisis does a student have a full plan do they have access to the meanings and then they will determine next steps part of prevention is making sure students and parents have a next step plan provide parents a list of mental health providers with contact information school should also ask for a release of information in order to wrap around students at risk so when we talk to parents and students about next steps that also includes the students return to school they could be the next day could be 2 weeks high point we want to make sure that everyone understand the next time you come to school on the first thing I want you to do is an option as a counselor I say I want you to come see me and get whatever you need out of your locker if necessary or walk in the front door school and come immediately to my office and I'm going to help you try to get back into the swing of things it's really important to revive that sense of Safety and Security for the student cuz they're a little head is spinning just as well as yours and the parents and that's part of the process but we want to make everyone is comfortable with gospel and let them know what to expect together with parents and Community Resources we can make a difference this is that idea of it takes a village to raise a child and in this situation it may take the village to save a child going to protect that kid take good care of them and get everybody back on track it's important to recognize that the suicide rate in the teenage population is on the rise along with that increase comes to reality of an increase in responsibilities of schools in the school districts to develop school-wide Suicide Prevention programs and crisis response plans while we make every effort to prevent you must also prepare for a response to a threat attempt or completion which states provide guidance strategies for school districts as they develop Suicide Prevention programs in crisis response plans for example Illinois recommend six allergies you may find useful as you design your school wide suicide prevention program state regulations will often very therefore it's recommended the staff members explore the regulations proposed by the state in which they reside 1 promoting social emotional Behavior or academic competencies to providing a safe caring responsive and Midori School climate that encourages communication 3 engaging parents for intervening early when students need additional mental health supports making appropriate referrals if necessary supports or beyond the capacity of school personnel 6 implementing a coordinated crisis response that's what a suicide occurs Educators we should determine if our school or facility has an established protocol for crisis response for the active suicide this will determine what actions take in case of a suicidal threat attempt or completion this plan may include information about the following one what are the defined risks and behaviors that need to be reported professional to who should a staff member tell if a student is at risk as evidenced by these observed behaviors Siri what records are kept on an and who completes these records for how is each staff member involved in the intervention process five how do we maintain the privacy of the individual in these situations 6 if there is evidence that one or both parents are creating or exacerbating the problem who do staff contact each location list of questions and answers will differ review the process that is already in place at your school or facility and talk about the process with the team who created it to clarify anything that you don't understand if a suicide is been completed the school or facility should Implement a response plan in order to manage the situation provide grief support help students are consumers to cope with their feelings and minimized risk of suicide contagion which means that one suicide contributes to another a crisis response team and team leader should be established and will typically include a counselor psycho call just nurse administrator or others were chosen for their skills credentials or ability to work effectively under pressure the crisis team leader should inform the school official stop the death contact a deceased family call an immediate meeting of the crisis response team to assign responsibilities establish a plan to immediately notify faculty and staff of the death by a facilities crisis alert system usually phone or email schedule an initial all staff meeting as soon as possible arranged for students to be notified of the death in small groups such as homerooms draft and disseminate that's notification statement for parents and disseminate handouts on facts about suicide and mental disorders in adolescence and talking about suicide to fakoly copies of these Dallas can be found in the suicide toolkit a PDF available for download in the attachment section of this presentation additional operations at the crisis team in the event of a suicide are find the staff or faculty member to follow the deceased student schedule to monitor. Actions and answer questions if possible arranged for several substitute Personnel or floaters from other locations within the district to be hand in the building in case staff members need to take time out of their rooms arrange for crisis counseling rooms for staff and students provide tissues and water throughout the building at a search for food for faculty crisis counselors work with Administration faculty and counselors to identify individuals who may be having particular difficulty such as family members close friends and teammates Scott Roberts and I'm a principal I've also been a teacher and I've worked as a principal and a teacher after a significant Time Crisis crisis planning in response to a suicide the initial chaos of a crisis can be controlled with pre-planning and staff training information and communication with staff parents Community is important things like emails to parents notices the staff and ask Miss to students are vital during a crisis II pieces that information and communication systems of parrots and that has changed dramatically my first crisis I was a part of was one of the teacher in this is 1998 and hardly anybody have a cell phone a few students had beepers and pagers and that was about it and it wasn't like it is now now you have to really control a message because you're not going to be able to control communication so you want at least be able to control a message and there's a couple ways to do that and we have an outstanding communication seminar in our school district and they're going to be on site very quickly and so we're going to get a message out to students and parents through an email system very quickly we also have a text system that we can quickly get text messages out so we need to that's one of those things when I was in my Anita's is administrator one of the best piece of advice I ever got was think fast and slow except for sometimes you have to think fast and act that and this is one of those examples when you want to think fast act that sit down think fast get your comments out there and be able to get communication that's reliable because the rumors when a crisis happens grow out of control and video is like fire pits like wildfire so the important thing is to get those get that information and control that message is much if you can get people reliable information and be kind and considerate or family because at the heart of this especially if it's crisis where there is a death involved some family just had the worst possible news and we have to treat that family like we got to take care of that group of people and being able control rumors and get messages correctly out there can help stop the chaos but also treat that family really really well so the goal of crisis response is to provide court and safety for all students identify students who may be at risk or need Individual Services in a crisis situation if a student there's two different types if you're responding to car situation or maybe there was a student there you need to go and identify those students who are going to be most effective as quickly as possible and that's part of that crisis response team that's on the very first things that you're going to sit down and do who is going to be affected who do we need to get because these are the students that are going to be the most upset could be physically unsafe because of the responses situation she got to go identify the students and you got to come up with a plan of how weird how you going to get those students and be able to help them then it's that there's a crisis where there potentially could be harm done to students once again you got to go and find the students who could be affected if the right has been harmed that's happened then you got to go into those students as quickly as you can and sometimes you just have to make some judgement calls there and it's not always easy and that's when if you are fortunate we're pretty fortunate to have law enforcement are buildings if you have law enforcement in your building they can be a huge help there you can talk and vent in with that group in you can use Eric's expertise to be able to help you with that provide safe outlet for expression of sadness and grief after a significant incident where someone comedians died students are going to want to express the grief and there is a balancing act that you play as as a leader in the bill because there is there's always a tired to go back to normal but also there stages of grief and you have to let students go through those stages of group what you want to try to avoid are permanent thinks or impromptu memorials where students are going to buy I remember when I was when I was a teacher and we have a significant incident where we had three students die in a car wreck on one afternoon to other students injured terribly and it happened quickly and buy that next Monday I have my Friday afternoon by that money more we had a memorial recovered these two and three story windows with letters and messages and papers and although that was lovely we under under stood that that I need to express grief was very difficult to start to take those papers down when is the right time to do that so or even books where people can write in the back of the mower or can write suggest to the family to write posters that you can do in your crisis and in one of those hotspot rooms were students need to go to grief and then after it's done you can you can make sure that the the students who are grieving know that parents and families are going to get this information but it doesn't become an impromptu Memorial to becomes very difficult to take down from my personal experience when I watch this process happen that the bell curve from incident Intensity 2 send you back to normal the incident when we when we had the student suicide they had left a note and one of things that we really struggled with was how we going to communicate this Communications important trying to control the message and when we first started talking about it we said it was an accident and we had students come up to us and they were Furious frankly because I knew it was an accident and they knew about the note they knew was a suicide and and they were so angry with this dude it was so a angry that what you done they're so angry with him that we as adults had to take a step back and we had to listen to the students and we had to say you're right and so we change your message and we put out the appropriate message it's difficult to say now and saying this as all of this is happening or none of this is chronological always and it's not sequential as we're doing this we are in the middle of having to communicate with the Stanley and the communication with this family happened in the principal's office didn't happen to police station that happened at the school and so we couldn't release information about a suicide until we least had that conversation with that family there's nothing more difficult than that and and although in my room. We didn't have to communicate with the family we didn't have to make that final communication the police department did we are in the room and then we had to go to the process of we wanted we needed to communicate the community need to know we had we need to get permission the word able to get that permission from the parents but that wasn't easy and sold for the next two to three days we had to try to build trust back with a group of students we had students who were hurting as soon as wrecking frankly felt a little betrayed by us that we weren't from their perspective honest even though we were trying to be sensitive to the families cuz these are human beings this was their child the student had an older brother in the building it was still there a lot of trauma that's a lot of that's a lot for students to have to deal with and we we work the initial process I think pretty well we talked a lot we we we we relationship with student sweet we followed our protocols that we practiced but it didn't end after three or four days we had a graduation at the end of the year we had her brother's graduation a year later and every one of those incidents we had stop talk talk with the family talk with friends and go to the process and it a tough thing personally is that you knew that student you know this family and so it brings all of that. tickle time back up but it's it's part of the war that you have to do to to work through that process the other pieces you have to then start to think at what point do we start to move students and get them back into normal and it's it's that's when Heaven highly-trained people that's been practicing crisis response helps when you talked about these things you're going to meet continuously throughout the response to the crisis you're going to meet several times and so when you sit in a true man you have those car and you have those that information you'll identify the students are struggling the most and then you start to work on strategies how can we help can we get that student back for one hour can we get that student back maybe the next day for 2 hours can we get that student back into class Define that you're able to work with the student and get them as close as you can back to normal I wish I could say there was any magic way but every incidents different and every student separate return as soon as possible to regular schedule and education when that response happens there's there's a time line where you're going to see at you going to see a spike in reaction from everybody involved now whether the student is it staff if parents is community members you're going to see that Spike of intensity and then it's going to say as time goes on it's going to slowly start to wait and it's almost like a bell curve you didn't answer that doesn't happen you spike at the very top when you slowly start to move towards normal as as a crisis response team as a leader your rolls to help Foster that process you have to be willing to understand that the spike can be longer in some incidents depending on the number of Bob what has happened then came me another answer to might be an afternoon in for one incident it might be three or four days for another but then you have to start working on getting that back getting back to normal if you start working on a process what happen if there's a death involved it may not happen to that memorial service it may not happen until the till a funeral it may not happen until you meet with the family in the family meets with some of the close friends but you want to start working towards normal getting students out of those hotspot areas where they're getting support and back into class and no easy timeline you just have to understand those goofy intensity and then you got to work towards normal it was a crisis effectively is having effective and detailed planning and so example every year we meet with our crisis team and we talked through what I roles are going to be and exactly what your role is going to be so it's a crisis happens and we need to call the crisis response team together we have very clear and outline goals and very clear not like responsibilities and we talked about this explicitly the other thing that we do at all these is our school psychologist who runs our meeting she has two or three semi Nations that we go through and they are usually very very challenging simulations things like I'm a student as a car wreck right out front of your circle and 25 students yet and what do you do it's a group we have to sit together and talk through that and we make mistakes sitting in that room we do and say things that we wouldn't and then we stop and then we debrief then we talked through it and we've always done that practice in every school I've been in and so when it actually happened we the student who left a note it at a school and went out and committed suicide and drove into a bridge between the structure of a bridge and I asked went out and was help to identify the student in a Britain and we had an awful moment and we came back but when we came back and call the crisis response team together even though we had been through a very traumatic event we stay we slow down we knew our roles and we start work in the process and it's because we had all that pre-planning that that made the difference in at least there's never going to be anyone that says this is easiest crazy but you can at least be effective in the process and know what your rules are and bye-bye pre-planning my practicing when those horrible events happen and unfortunately it's not if it's when you're going to be more ready more pair suicide is the second leading cause of death for ages 10 to 24 more teenagers and young adults die by suicide then from cancer heart disease AIDS birth defects stroke pneumonia influenza and chronic lung disease combined each day in our nation there are an average of 54 attempts by young people grade 7 to 12 one young person dies by suicide every 95 minutes LGBT youth are four times more likely to attempt decide as their straight peers four out of five teens who attempt suicide have given clear warning signs serious suicidal attempt score family history of suicide talking about suicide or making suicidal references or threats direct expressions of hopelessness or helplessness and Direct Express signs of feeling like a burden to friends or family change in their mood and increase in sadness or depression and anger changes in appearance as a baby don't seem to care they can't find the energy to care changes in sleeping patterns whether they're sleeping too much or not enough for not wanting to get out of bed you might notice a decrease in energy or decreased Tristan social interactions are activities you might notice a decrease in their school or class attendance recent whiskey Behavior disregard for safety or a self respect as teachers we need to learn and look for the warning signs of suicidal thought in our students if you're concerned act immediately don't stand-alone walk the student to the office call the parents reach out to an administrator ask questions for example I'm worried about you are you okay asked that question twice you might get a different answer this contacts appearance with your concerns referring to student and then follow up with school mental health personnel the counselor psychologist nurse and administrator continue to show care and concern to the student continue to watch for warning signs continue to report if the student does not seem to improve confidential multi does not extend to suicidal ideation when were concerned about the student that he or she might harm himself or herself another individual or even ourselves we really need to go ahead and make contact immediately with other people in the building who need to know about student struggles as we look at the protective factors for kids one of the biggest things that we can do is build a relationship with those students are community and the families and the other friends that those students have all together is what can really help those kids survive what they are going through those social contacts become really important to students and when we have teachers know who their friends are know the friends will stick together with them out it's really helpful for us to help make those connections and work with those students together we have to be flexible when kids are going through these types of times in their lives and it's hard for them academic sometimes it's the last thing important to them in his teachers we need to realize that if we can get them involved in school activities if we can get them connected with the right group to be with whether it's a teacher-led group or a student-led group or a club all of those things are known to help those students so when it comes to finding those students who really need our help most of those referrals will come from teachers or administrators and often Pierce students will come in and let us know I'm worried about my friend what a concern comes up student safety is the first priority everything else is put on hold the student must be monitored at all X parents are notified and maybe ask to come in for a school conference emergency referrals are made to Community Resources for a suicide assessment prevention is making sure students and parents have a next step plan provide parents a list of mental health providers with contact information school should also ask for release of information in order to wrap around students together with parents and Community Resources we can make a difference the initial chaos of a crisis can be controlled with pre-planning and staff training information and communication with staff parents and Community is important things like emails to parents notices to staff and a supposed to students are vital during a crisis the goal of Christ response is to provide support and safety for all students identify students who may be at risk or need Individual Services provide safe outlet for expression of sadness and grief return as soon as possible to regular schedule and education that brings us to the end of the presentation and I'd like to thank my friends and colleagues who participated with me today I think it takes a lot of courage to share personal information into an to talk about suicide it's not an easy thing to talk about it over to discuss I very much appreciate their participation I have some resources for you one that is very handy that I think you'll like is the book from Samsung this is free to download on their website and it has lots of good information on it it'll help you with pre-planning it'll help you with intervention and it will help you with that post mention if something happens in your school highly encourage you to get it free is a download I also want to encourage you to publicize and put up Denver's with technology we've gotten pretty good at adding text numbers and chat numbers and even email numbers and their 24 hours 7 days a week hotlines for all of those students now don't talk a lot but they do text so one thing annatar posters is that text hotline I'm some people make magnets and hand them out posters in the hallways in the bathrooms something to let kids know here's where you can go if you're feeling like you're going to hurt yourself if you have I need more information Oreo concerned about a student you could always call the national hotline number that number is +1-800-448-3000 all these things together can really make a difference which can impact the statistics for sewage 1014 suicide and we can't help save lives so I mean courage you to look at your students differently to wonder how they're doing to ask how they're doing and then to follow up with your mental health professionals and with your families make sure your home if you have pills she could use to hurt herself lock them up get it out of the house the bullets two and one more thing if you think your kid might be about to hurt himself don't leave him alone take him emergency room call nine-one-one if you have to we all have our ups and downs but sometimes it's more than that if you think something's wrong the only way to find out is to ask ask straight out are you thinking about killing yourself you sure trust your gut because it never hurts to ask

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McPherson Unified School District 418

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