Region 11 K-12
Student Mental
Health Initiative
Suicide Prevention
Ongoing Region 11 Training
(SPORT)
The California County Superintendents Educational Services Association’s Regional K-12 Student Mental Health Initiative is administered by the California Mental Health Services Authority (CalMHSA), an organization of county governments working to improve mental health outcomes
for individuals, families and communities. Prevention and Early Intervention programs implemented by CalMHSA are funded through the voter-approved Mental Health Services Act (Prop 63). Prop 63 provides the funding and framework needed to expand mental health services to
previously underserved populations and all of California's diverse communities.
Parent Training Outline
•
What is depression?
•
Warning signs and Treatments
•
Parent role in suicide prevention
•
Protective factors
•
Risk factors & warning signs of youth suicide
•
Intervening with a suicidal child
What is depression?
1. HANDOUTS: DEPRESSION IN TEENS (ENG/SPAN)
2. NAMI: CHILDREN & ADOLESCENTS AND
DEPRESSION
What are the symptoms of
depression?
1. HANDOUTS: DEPRESSION IN TEENS (ENG/SPAN)
2. NAMI: CHILDREN & ADOLESCENTS AND
DEPRESSION
What places a child at risk
for depression?
What are treatments?
1. HANDOUTS: DEPRESSION IN TEENS (ENG/SPAN)
2. NAMI: CHILDREN & ADOLESCENTS AND
DEPRESSION
EVERYONE PLAYS A ROLE
IN SUICIDE PREVENTION
Youth Suicide in the US: 2010
SUICIDE is 3rd leading
cause of death for youth
aged 10-24; boys & girls;
across all ethnicities
Leading causes:
1. Accidents
2. Homicides
Youth Suicide: Just the Facts
• In recent years more young people have died from
suicide than from cancer, heart disease, HIV/AIDS,
congenital birth defects, and diabetes COMBINED.
• For every young person who dies by suicide,
between 100-200 attempt suicide.
• Males are four times as likely to die by suicide as
females - although females attempt suicide three
times as often as males.
• The #1 environmental risk factor for suicide is the
presence of a gun.
• In the US & CALIFORNIA the gun was the method
most often used among youth however in Los
Angeles the method most often used by youth was
strangulation.
Youth Suicide: Just the Issues
 Bullying
 Cyber-bullying
• Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender
Questioning
• Non-Suicidal Self-injury
• Social media
Youth Suicide: Just the Issues
• Bullying
• Cyber-bullying
 Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender
Questioning
• Non-Suicidal Self-injury
• Social media
Youth Suicide: Just the Issues
• Bullying
• Cyber-bullying
• Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender
Questioning
 Non-Suicidal Self-injury
 Social media
Cultural Considerations: YOUTH
•
•
•
•
•
White Males
Alaskan Native/American Indian
Black Males
Asian/Pacific Islander
Latino*
Suicide Rate= # of deaths/100,000
22.6
21.0
8.7
6.2
5.3
Intervening with
Suicidal Students
Guidelines for Parents
Suicide Prevention:
Guidelines for Parents
• Do not be afraid to talk to your child
about suicide
• Know the risk factors and warning signs
of youth suicide
• Respond immediately
• Turn to the school for help. Contact the
school psychologist/counselor/social
worker
• Seek out community mental health
agencies
3. HANDOUT: SUICIDE PREVENTION
GUIDELINES FOR PARENTS (EL/SECONDARY;
ENG/SPAN)
Suicide Prevention in the Schools
Protective Factors
• Strong individual coping and problem-solving
skills
• Strong sense of belonging and connection
• Interpersonal competence/success
• Family warmth, stability, support, and
acceptance
• Positive connections at school
• Spirituality & religious involvement
• Access to mental health care & awareness of
crisis hotline resources
Risk Factors of Youth Suicide
• Alcohol/substance abuse
• Accessibility of means (i.e. guns, rope)
• Internal vulnerabilities
– Psychiatric disorders
• Depression
• Conduct disorder
– Previous suicidal behavior
– History of loss/trauma/victimization
• External vulnerabilities
(family/community)
3. HANDOUT: SUICIDE PREVENTION
• Hopelessness
GUIDELINES FOR PARENTS (EL/SECONDARY;
ENG/SPAN)
• Impulsivity
Risk Factors of Youth Suicide
SITUATIONAL CRISES (Precipitating Events)
• Loss (Death, divorce, transience, romance, dignity)
• Victimization/exposure to violence
• School crisis (disciplinary, academic)
• Family crisis (abuse, domestic violence, running away,
argument with parents)
• Suicide in community
Signs of Self-injury
• Frequent or unexplained bruises, scars,
cuts, or burns.
• Consistent, inappropriate use of clothing
designed to conceal wounds (often found
on the arms, thighs, abdomen)
• Secretive behaviors, spending unusual
amounts of time in the student bathroom
or isolated areas on campus.
• General signs of depression, socialemotional isolation and disconnectedness
5. HANDOUTS: CORNELL
PARENT GUIDE
YOUTH WHO SELF-INJURE
(ENG/SPAN)
Signs of Self-injury
• Substance abuse
• Possession of sharp implements (razor
blades, shards of glass, thumb tacks,
clips)
• Evidence of self-injury in work samples,
journals, art projects
• Risk taking behaviors such as gun play,
sexual acting out, jumping from high
places or running into traffic.
Responding to Students who
Self-Injure Tips for Parents: Do
• Connect with compassion, calm, and caring.
• Understand that this is his/her way of coping
with pain.
• Refer and offer to go with the student to your
school counselor, psychologist, social worker,
or nurse.
• Discover your child’s strengths
• Help to create circle of care at home, school
and community by establishing connections
with the adults in your child’s life.
HANDOUTS: CORNELL PARENT
Responding to Students who SelfInjure Tips for Parents: Don’t
• Discourage self-injury, threaten
hospitalization, use punishment or negative
consequences.
• Act shocked, overreact, say or do anything
to cause guilt or shame.
• Never publicly humiliate your child or talk
about their SI in front of family or peers.
• Agree to hold SI behavior confidential.
• Make deals in an effort to stop SI.
• Make promises you can’t keep.
21
Warning Signs of Youth Suicide
Adolescents
Suicide notes
Threats
Plan/method/access
Depression (helplessness/hopelessness
– Risk taking behaviors such as gun play,
alcohol/substance abuse)
• Giving away prized possessions
•
•
•
•
Warning Signs of Youth Suicide
Elementary
• Efforts to hurt self
– Running into traffic
– Jumping from heights
– Scratching/cutting/marking the body
• Death & suicidal themes in writing/drawing
• Sudden changes in personality, friends,
behaviors
IF YOU ARE
CONCERNED ABOUT
YOUR CHILD:
Turn to the school for
http://preventsuicide.lacoe.edu
HANDOUTS: I WILL THRIVE
(ENG/SPAN)
YOUTH SUICIDE: RESOURCES
Suicide Prevention Resource Center
http://sprc.org
American Association of Suicidology
http://suicidology.org
American Foundation for Suicide Prevention
http://afsp.org
National Association of School Psychologists
http://nasponline.org
Centers for Disease Control
http://www.cdc.gov/ViolencePrevention/suicide/
QUESTIONS???
Contact us: SMHI@lacoe.edu