This week, Compass Charter Schools is recognizing National Suicide Prevention Week. It’s an important time dedicated to discussing the signs and symptoms of suicide and how to support someone who may be feeling suicidal. It’s a sensitive topic, but we believe it’s important to have an open dialog to help both parents and scholars recognize the signs of suicidal thoughts and how to help those who may be at risk.
Scholars of all ages are at risk of feeling depressed and possibly suicidal. Depression is a normal feeling during adolescence, in fact, about five percent of teens and adults can have long-term battles with depression. The good news is that adults can monitor the signs of depression in children and help them during critical times. Here are six ways to monitor signs of suicide in children and how adults can support them:
Become a Safe Person
Supporting a child or young adult during periods of stress and depression is crucial. It’s important that every child feels they have a safe person that they can talk to about their thoughts, feelings, and beliefs without feeling judged, belittled or intimidated. Parents, family members, friends, and school staff can become the safe person in a child’s life by listening to the scholars, asking questions and encouraging open discussions about everything. The key to becoming a safe person is developing the ability to support scholars without strongly imposing personal opinions. We encourage adults to avoid persuading scholars to think or feel a certain way and to instead encourage them to think freely and express themselves. By doing so, children are often more likely to feel comfortable sharing their honest thoughts with the trusted adults in their lives, even when they may feel depressed or possibly suicidal. When parents, family members, friends, and school staff are aware of a child’s true feelings they can help them in their time of need.
Encourage Open Discussion
Having open discussions with a child is arguably one of the most important ways that adults can gauge their mental health and monitor the risk of suicide. We encourage parents to have frequent conversations with their scholars about potentially challenging topics like emotions, sudden loss, friendship, love, failure and the importance of mental and emotional health. Discussing these topics with children can help them learn how to effectively describe and express their emotions in a healthy way. Having open dialog about topics like failure, loss, and sorrow can help children develop healthy coping mechanisms and avoid the unhealthy expression of sadness through acts like self-harm and suicide. Families with adolescent scholars may want to consider discussing things like substance use and abuse. Although it may be a challenge, talking about it can help young adults become more aware of the risks and encourage them to avoid exploring harmful substances and risking addiction. We strongly encourage parents and guardians to frequently have open conversations with their scholars about anything and everything. Talking is a simple yet effective way to help keep children informed and safe. Having open discussions also give adults the chance to listen, learn and identify potential warning signs in scholars.
Listen Intently
Sometimes quietly listening is the best way to support a scholar who may be feeling depressed and unstable. We encourage parents to listen intently by giving their undivided attention to their scholar. Adults can consider avoiding dismissing a child’s feelings and refrain from “fixing” or attempting to correct what they say. Sometimes children may say things that their parents or close family members don’t agree with and during those challenging times, it’s important that adults remain calm and open to listening. When a child feels like their thoughts and opinions have been heard by a trusted adult, they are often more likely to feel valued, which can help eliminate the risk of low self-esteem and possibly suicidal thoughts. Active listening is critical.
Ask Discovery Questions
One of the best ways to learn about a child’s mental health and risk of suicidal thoughts is by asking discovery questions. We encourage parents to ask their scholars if they had a good day or a bad day. What did they do at school today? Did they enjoy some social time with friends? Did anything happen that made them laugh or smile? It may also be a good idea to ask a child how they’re feeling, are they happy or sad? Discovery questions like these can help parents learn about the state of their child’s mental health and identify any areas of concerns. We believe it’s important to ask questions using an inquisitive, gentle and conversational tone to avoid making children feel uncomfortable or pressured. When necessary, we encourage parents, or any adult, that notices the warning signs of suicide to directly ask the child if they are contemplating harming themselves or if they feel depressed and suicidal. Questions are an important way to learn about a child’s thoughts, feelings, and risk of self-harm.
Seek Advice From Professionals
Parents, guardians, family, friends and school staff are strongly encouraged to seek advice from professional therapists to learn about the signs and symptoms of suicide and how to help scholars who are at risk. We have an amazing team of credentialed school counselors who provide academic, social and emotional support to our scholars and their families. They are available to support scholars’ goals, oversee academic progress, prepare for college and career choices, and of course, to monitor mental and emotional health. Our school counselors are available to help parents learn the signs of suicide and how to help scholars who are at risk or in immediate danger. School counselors and professional therapists are also available to serve as a safe person that scholars can talk to about their thoughts and feelings. Our counselors are professionally trained to identify the signs of depression and suicide and are ready to act if an emergency presents itself. Our middle school and high school scholars are strongly encouraged to build a healthy relationship with their counselor to receive the guidance they need to lead a healthy lifestyle. School counselors recognize the threat of suicide among adolescents and strive to create a supportive environment where suicidal thoughts are identified, and scholars are quickly connected to the appropriate intervention services. They take the threat of suicide seriously and spend time responding to a scholar’s disclosure of suicidal ideation with sound crisis intervention counseling techniques (ASCA 2017). School counselors work to raise awareness of suicide and suicide ideation, train school personnel and create opportunities to identify resources available for school personnel (Desrochers & Houck, 2013). It’s important to remember that professional counselors are available to help scholars and their families in times of need.
Eliminate Stress
Last but certainly not least, eliminating stress is one of the most effective ways to monitor and decrease the chances of suicidal thoughts by scholars. They can feel stressed for countless reasons including pressure from their peers, family members, academic expectations and so much more. Sometimes an overly busy and demanding schedule can cause stress in scholars, too. We invite parents to schedule or organize break time as a family to help relieve stress from their child’s life. Taking a break could mean taking a day trip as a family, taking a vacation, or just scheduling a game night at home without any distractions. For some families, eliminating stress may mean participating in fewer extracurricular activities, or refraining from scheduling activities at least one night during each week. The options for eliminating stress in a scholar’s life are endless!
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If you or someone you know is thinking about committing suicide, we encourage you to call the National Suicide Prevention Line at 1-800-273-8255 or send a text message to 271-271. Compass Charter Schools (CCS) is a WASC-accredited virtual charter school that serves families throughout California. Interested in learning more about CCS’ flexible academic programs? Visit our website, or contact our enrollment team at enrollment@compasscharters.org or (877) 506-8631.