An 11 year old boy takes his life and a community is in shock. We want to mobilize. We want to DO something.
This death has consumed my week both professionally and personally. My 7 year old grandson lives in Yorkville. He attends Yorkville schools. At one time, he attended Autumn Creek School.
Professionally, I lead an agency that focuses on suicide prevention. We have been involved this week, yet again, in the death by suicide of a child. A child.
As parents of school age children, you ask questions, and you must do that. Your questions are valid. You are frightened as is every parent when a suicide occurs. "If it can happen to that child, can it happen to mine?" The answer is a resounding, "Yes, it can."
The causes of suicide are multiple and varied.
Questions to be asked: "What is my child being taught in school about feelings? What does the school have in place for kids who are suicidal? If my child is being bullied, how is the school informing me and protecting my child?"
Suicide Prevention Services of America has contracts with two school districts: Batavia and St. Charles. A contract means that their entire staff from the administration through bus drivers and cafeteria workers has been trained in the signs and symptoms of depression and/or suicide. Social workers, counselors, teachers have had more intense training. Every person, inside and outside of the school community, can learn in an hour how to ask someone if they're suicidal, how to get them help, and to whom to refer them. The next part of the contract involves the school assessment. If a student is suicidal, the school will assess. If the student is in need of more help (but not needing hospitalization) SPS will be called and the student will either come to the agency or an agency worker will go to the school. We ARE the stop gap between hospitalization and sending them home. SPS can provide ongoing counseling if needed.
Parents need to know what the policy is in their district. If, for example, the policy is to call 911 when the word suicide is mentioned, that's wrong. There are levels of suicidal ideation. If someone is first expressing this, perhaps talking with someone is all that's needed, along with follow-up. Imagine the trauma that occurs to a student if they've finally worked up the courage to tell someone about their depression and/or suicidal thoughts, and then an ambulance pulls up and takes them to a hospital.
SPS is one of only 7 such agencies in our country (none are related to any other.) All of the services for suicide are under one roof: Prevention in the form of education and training, Intervention in the form of a 24/7hotline, counseling, and depression screenings, and Postvention in the form of support after a death has occurred. This is ALL SPS does! This is our specialty. We run groups for attempt survivors, cutters, and survivors. Unlike a hospital or another kind of corporation, suicide is not one of the many programs that need to be overseen; it is the ONLY program that we do.
Survivors use an expression: "Educate or tolerate." Let us, as a community, come together to educate, to have our questions answered, and to work with our educators to make a difference. Our teachers have their plates full, there's no doubt of that. The state of IL has many requirements that must be met. Our teachers work hard. We want to help. We want to know what we can do as parents, grandparents, and community members to work with them to make a difference.
Tomorrow, we have a child to mourn.
Monday, let's roll up our sleeves and come together ...
