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Suicide Prevention

What can schools do?

By Heather WilsonPublished 6 years ago 3 min read
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Madison, 17

If a student comes up to you and tells you that they want to kill themselves, how can you tell them that there is nothing you can do for them? 1 in 6 high school teenagers have thought about harming/killing themselevs. Just thirty years ago, this wouldn’t even be a topic that we could discuss. Let me tell you a story.

Madison was my best friend. We have known each other for 13 years and had been friends the whole time. She was smart, beautiful, funny, and had everything going for her. She got a full ride to the college of her choice for cheerleading even though she was only a junior. Madison was the type of person that if she saw you were upset or crying then she would try to make you feel better. She would do everything in her power to make sure that you were okay. Madison struggled with depression for six years before she lost her fight. She went to our school and told them that she was being bullied. Madison showed them the texts that told her to go kill herself. Our school told her that there was nothing they could do. On March 3rd, 2016, my seventeenth birthday, Madison took her own life. That turned out to be the worst day of my life.

I’m not saying that our school did the wrong thing. I think that our school did not have enough resources or programs to help Madison the way they should have. The first thing that schools need to do is train their staff to understand depression. Depression is a complex disease that isn’t very hard to understand, but there are training programs for school counselors and administrators can take to be prepared. After the staff is prepared and has all the facts, teachers and other faculty members need to be aware of their surroundings. They need to start watching students more carefully. If a teacher sees signs of depression or suicidal thoughts, they need to act on them. Just coming up to a student and asking if they are okay will help. Don’t just do nothing and hope for the best. Alert other faculty members so they can watch students as well.

Another thing that will help schools become more equipped for this situation is having a trained counselor on campus. I know all schools have a guidance counselor, but they are not fully trained for this type of situation. They are mostly trained for grades, scholarships, and helping choose colleges. If schools have a trained counselor that is only there for kids who are struggling with mental illness, students would feel more comfortable and more willing to come talk to them and get the help they need.

Lastly, schools need to actually recognize that mental illness is a serious problem. Many people in today’s world think of mental illness as something teens use to get attention or to get out of school. My school did not think of mental illness as a problem until Madison died. After that, they started putting in more effort to make sure every student is okay. I think that’s how most schools are nowadays. They don’t see a problem until something actually happens. This is the opposite of how it should be. We should think of this as problem so nothing happens.

Once everyone is informed and knows the signs to look out for, suicide and depression rates will decrease. People will be able to look out for the symptoms and early signs in young adults. Once that happens, suicide and depression rates will decrease.

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