When a child dies by suicide, schools are often tasked with leading students through the grief that inevitably permeates the classroom. It’s a particularly challenging crisis to navigate. Leaders must address stigma, complex emotions, and death, while also working to prevent other deaths by suicide.
Though not a new problem, districts across the country are struggling to keep pace with students’ heightened mental health needs, a problem only exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Youth depression rates are on the rise, and suicide is the second leading cause of death for children aged 10-24.
The most recent CDC Youth Risk Behavior survey, released in February, showed 22 percent of high school students—nearly one in four—seriously considered attempting suicide during the past year; 18 percent made a suicide plan; and 10 percent attempted suicide. LGBTQ+ students were most likely to report having suicidal thoughts and behaviors.
Unfortunately, many schools and districts will be faced with responding to a student’s death by suicide. And because youth are the most prone to a phenomenon known as “suicide contagion”—when exposure to suicide or suicidal behavior influences others to attempt suicide—it is critical that they respond appropriately.
Read more at EdWeek.org.
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