Florida School Toolkit for K-12 Educators to Prevent Suicide

INTRODUCTION The Florida School Toolkit for K–12 Educators to Prevent Suicide (Florida S.T.E.P.S.) carefully follows the best practices model for suicide prevention released in 2019 by the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP), the National Association of School Psychologists (NASP), the American School Counselor Association (ASCA), and the Trevor Foundation. Scott Poland, Ed.D., served as a key advisor in the making of the model, which can be found on the AFSP website and at afsp.org /model-school-policy-on-suicide-prevention . Additionally, according to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), the best practices model and components of a comprehensive suicide prevention program are prevention, intervention, and postvention. Accordingly, Florida S.T.E.P.S. provides guidance on all three components. Where Florida S.T.E.P.S. differs, however, is with its unique focus on Florida schools. With more than 300,000 students (Common Core of Data, 2019), Florida’s Miami-Dade County Public Schools ranks as the nation’s fourth-largest school district. Other school districts in Florida, such as Union County School District, have fewer than 2,500 students. Combined, Florida boasts 74 public school districts and approximately 2,700 private schools. Florida S.T.E.P.S. is designed to assist all Florida K–12 schools, both public and private, in suicide prevention, and includes both national and Florida- related statistics and related legislation. The Florida S.T.E.P.S. framework establishes the driving principles and guidelines of a comprehensive suicide prevention program addressing prevention, intervention, and postvention. Section 1 Suicide Prevention includes guidelines for developing suicide prevention programs for elementary schools, middle schools, and high schools. In addition, it provides information on suicide awareness. Staff development, student training, and information for parents are discussed with specific recommendations for creating awareness and coordinating prevention training. Research has identified high-risk groups for youth suicide, which include Native Americans; lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning (LGBTQ) students; homeless students; students living in foster care; students with mental illness; students engaging in self-injury; incarcerated youth; and those bereaved of loved ones by suicide. In addition, we provide an overview of preventative information in Tool 29 to post on the school district’s website. Section 2 Suicide Intervention includes guidelines for developing assessment procedures for suicidal students at each educational level, as well as the development of safety plans, parent emergency notifications, the identification of internal and external resources, and reentry guidelines for students returning from the hospital. Florida S.T.E.P.S. uses the term “suicide prevention specialist” or “expert” for school districts. In many cases, that person will be a school counselor, school social worker, or school psychologist, but in smaller districts a school administrator—or even a lead teacher in more isolated schools—may be conducting the initial suicide assessment with a student. 1