Florida School Toolkit for K-12 Educators to Prevent Suicide

WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION RECOMMENDATIONS The World Health Organization (WHO) outlined strategies for preventing youth suicide. They recommend to: 1. Remove the lethal means, which very often is a gun. The Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health website, Means Matter ( meansmatter .com ) , summarized the research from all around the world and found that removing access to lethal means and increasing barriers on bridges reduced suicide rates. School personnel are encouraged to have very direct conversations with parents about gun access when there is any reason to suspect suicidal behavior. One Houston teen left a goodbye for her parents that asked, “Why did you leave this gun so available to me?” Guns are used in only approximately 5 percent of suicide attempts nationally but account for approximately 50 percent of suicide deaths. Rarely does anyone survive when they attempt with a gun. 2. Reduce/eliminate adverse childhood experiences, such as rejection from a parent; living in poverty; living with a mentally ill or a substance abusing family member; being physically, emotionally, or sexually abused; and losses of significant others. 3. Increase education on the warning signs for everyone and promote that suicide can be prevented. Prevention education was especially stressed for physicians, as approximately two-thirds of suicide victims went to see the family doctor shortly before their suicide death. Scott Poland’s father visited his physician just one week before his suicide. It is important for physicians to become more comfortable with asking their patients about suicidal behavior. In 2009, the U.S. Prevention Task Force recommended that all teens seeing the physician for any reason should fill out a short questionnaire that asks questions about energy level, depression, and suicide, and it should be scored before the teen leaves the office. Physicians in Florida have a very important role in preventing youth suicide. 11