Florida School Toolkit for K-12 Educators to Prevent Suicide

to a general grief support group and share that their child died by suicide, other group members might say, “Oh, my child died of leukemia,” and the suicide survivor immediately feels out of place. If you don’t know the contacts to obtain information about suicide survivor groups in Florida, then contact the Florida Department of Children and Families or the Florida Suicide Prevention Coalition. 18. How does bullying in elementary school impact suicide in later years? L iterature indicates that we have underestimated the impact of being a bullying victim. Bullying victims may be affected for decades, and therefore the things that I said in answering question 16 are vital to be able to reduce and eliminate bullying. In addition, it’s important to clarify that there is a relationship between bullying and suicide. The research, which is produced by the Suicide Prevention Research Center ( sprc.org ) in a brief entitled, “Suicide and Bullying,” can be summarized with a few statements. There is a strong association between bullying and suicide. The research does not show a causal relationship between bullying and suicide, as it is almost impossible to rule out other factors—for example, things like poverty, loss, trauma, mental illness, and abuse. But a number of parents believe strongly that bullying caused the suicide of their child and they have actually sued schools. One of those cases went all the way to the Supreme Court in Kentucky, which ruled in favor of the Floyd County School District in the case brought by the estate of Stephen Patton in 2013. It is almost impossible to rule out all the other contributing factors to a youth suicide, but it would also be impossible for us to say that being a bullying victim did not contribute to the death by suicide. My strongest hope is that schools have bullying prevention programs and suicide prevention programs and that staff will not hesitate to ask the student known to be a victim of bullying, “Have you thought about giving up? Have you thought your life might be hopeless? Have you thought about dying by suicide?” There is a strong association between bullying and suicide that schools, families, and communities need to recognize. 19. Should schools use a universal screening tool to help identify students who are at risk? I believe the best thing to come along in decades to prevent youth suicide is depression screening. I am a strong advocate for Signs of Suicide (SOS), which is available at mindwise.org . SOS has two major components. The first is a very well-done video with the motto ACT: acknowledge, care, and tell. The video, which has a middle school and a high school version, shows young people exhibiting suicidal warning signs, which prompts their classmates and teachers to get them help using ACT. The second component is a seven-item questionnaire that contains questions about energy level, joy of life, depression, thoughts of suicide, and suicidal actions. Students in a classroom setting answer the seven questions, turn it over and score it, and know immediately whether they need to see a mental health professional. SOS was listed under the National Registry of Evidence-Based Programs and Practices (NREPP) within the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) before NREPP was deactivated. I am proud to have presented with SOS staff members at numerous national conferences. But, speaking honestly, I have found it difficult to convince schools to use universal depression screening. Given the scope of the problem of youth suicide, I strongly recommend that all middle schools and high schools implement the SOS program. I’ve sometimes been asked, “Well, we’ve done SOS two years in a row with the same students…should we do it again?” And I might say, “This year, bring in a mental health speaker who can talk to students within their classrooms, rather than during an assembly, and highlight the key 151