Florida School Toolkit for K-12 Educators to Prevent Suicide

many issues. I emphasize in my parenting presentations that we need to bring the family meal back. It’s not a McDonald’s visit. It’s around your kitchen table. Therefore, if you are tuned in and a good listener and really involved in your child’s life, hopefully they will share with you any thoughts they are having about getting a tattoo or piercing. I think it’s very important that I distinguish tattoos and piercings from self-injurious behaviors, also referred to as non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI). NSSI is a coping mechanism. It is one that some young people engage in when they are experiencing anxiety or feeling overwhelmed. The most common forms of NSSI are cutting or burning, which results in a moderate or superficial injury to their skin. This behavior has biological and psychological benefits. The psychological benefits are regulation of emotions. They can shut out the humiliation they just experienced, a major disappointment, or perhaps the argument their parents are having in the other room. The biological benefits are that endorphins are released, and these endorphins are the very same ones that are released through exercise. If a young person gets a tattoo or a piercing, this is something they have thought about and planned over days, weeks, or even months. The self-injurious behavior, such as cutting and burning, is usually done impulsively following a precipitating event (e.g., an argument, a humiliating event, etc.). Therefore, these behaviors are very different because to obtain a piercing or a tattoo you are making an appointment, traveling to a location, deciding on the piercing location or deciding on the exact tattoo. To engage in self-injury, all one has to do is go into the bedroom or school bathroom, isolate self from others, and quickly engage in the behavior. It is important that we recognize that a young person engaging in NSSI is getting comfortable with harming their body and estimates are that 30 percent of those who engage repetitively in NSSI ultimately make a suicide attempt. 12. What input should teens have when it comes to the programs that schools select for suicide prevention? I recommend that teenagers who have been affected by suicide be provided opportunities to promote suicide prevention. This could be through promoting crisis helpline resources. In addition, it is also possible for older teenagers to go through training for participation in teen crisis lines in larger cities. Teenagers, in addition to raising money and awareness, can also memorialize their friend with a living memorial. The living memorial doesn’t involve permanent shrines or markers or planting trees. It concentrates on promoting awareness, designating key mental health resources in our community, emphasizing depression as being treatable, and the fact that many teenagers suffer from depression in those tumultuous years. Teenagers do need to be involved, and have input in the memorialization decisions/ activities, suicide prevention planning, and most importantly being able to debunk the many myths associated with suicide. The actions of any one person may make all the difference in the world in preventing a suicide. One student initiative was based on the motto “Keep on Swimming.” After multiple suicides of students who attended a Colorado high school, students decorated and colored fish, and posted them on the walls of their school. The message is really important. No matter what happens, we need to get help for our friends, and ourselves, and face whatever adversity comes along, knowing we’re going to get the help we need. I recommend forming a Hope Squad, which was started by a school administrator in Utah. Hope Squad is a peer-to-peer intervention program. More information can be found at hopesquad.com . 145