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As a future professional school counselor, I plan to address the current problem resulting from the Covid19 pandemic and inform my fellow educators of the importance of working with suicidal students within the high school student population.  It is vital for educators to understand the psychosocial effects of the pandemic on the personal, psychosocial and emotional lives of society's youth, especially at the high school level.

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As a future professional school counselor, I plan to address the current problem resulting from the Covid19 pandemic and inform my fellow educators of the importance of working with suicidal students within the high school student population.  It is vital for educators to understand the psychosocial effects of the pandemic on the personal, psychosocial and emotional lives of society's youth, especially at the high school level.

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    A Legal Guide is a very useful resource to have as a counselor.  Additionally, working with suicidal students is a very challenging commitment that necessitates for counselors to have the most current information, strategies, skills, and legal guidance to make informed decisions in such cases.  As a result of the Covid19 pandemic, we are now facing another challenge dealing with the social and emotional development of our youth, especially at the high school level.   As professional school counselors, we  must pave the way for  the Texas Model for Comprehensive School Counseling Programs to provide guidance and solutions to the problems we are facing.  Furthermore, the suicide death rate for adolescents and young adults has increased in the past two decades.  Explanations for the increase in suicide may include bullying, social isolation, increase in technology and social media, increase in mental illnesses, and economic recession (SAMHSA, 2020).   

# data[].attributes.subject
    A Legal Guide is a very useful resource to have as a counselor.  Additionally, working with suicidal students is a very challenging commitment that necessitates for counselors to have the most current information, strategies, skills, and legal guidance to make informed decisions in such cases.  As a result of the Covid19 pandemic, we are now facing another challenge dealing with the social and emotional development of our youth, especially at the high school level.   As professional school counselors, we  must pave the way for  the Texas Model for Comprehensive School Counseling Programs to provide guidance and solutions to the problems we are facing.  Furthermore, the suicide death rate for adolescents and young adults has increased in the past two decades.  Explanations for the increase in suicide may include bullying, social isolation, increase in technology and social media, increase in mental illnesses, and economic recession (SAMHSA, 2020).   

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Reference:
SAMHSA, 2020.   Treatment for Suicidal Ideation, Self-Harm, and Suicide Attempts Among Youths.  Prevalence, p. 5 . Retrieved from https://store.samhsa.gov/sites/default/files/SAMHSA_Digital_Download/PEP20-06-01-002.pdf.

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Resource from a Professional Association:

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Resource from a Professional Association:

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This resource was prepared by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA).  It is an evidence-based resource guide series that offers treatment for suicidal ideation, self-harm, and suicide attempts among youth.

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We don't yet understand the effects of remote learning on student mental health. As parents, educators, mental-health professionals, and researchers, we must distinguish among projections of risk (what we think might happen), current practice (what is actually happening), and our next steps (what we think should happen next). It is not a foregone conclusion that remote learning will have overall negative effects. This story is still being written.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, a number of risks associated with suicide may be elevated-including social isolation, barriers to care, access to lethal means, and personal and economic loss. Over the past year, there have been numerous reports related to suicide risk, including some heartbreaking incidents of death. School communities must recognize warning signs for suicide, provide preventative services, and link kids to care.

These efforts must be rooted in what we know to be true about suicide. First and foremost, this means focusing on how suicide is preventable and how suicide-related thoughts and behaviors are treatable. This also means acknowledging the complexity of suicide, which relates to multiple factors (environmental, biological, and psychological risk) and cannot be attributed to any single factor.

A recent article published by the American Medical Association indicates that, while real-time data about suicide are not available in many regions, emerging data in several countries do not yet provide any evidence that overall deaths as a result of suicide have increased since COVID-19 first appeared. Estimates by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention from last summer do suggest an increase in suicidal ideation among young adults, signifying the potential for increased distress in this age group and underscoring the importance of connecting individuals to care. Suicidal ideation, however, is not a strong predictor of suicidal behavior or death due to suicide, and multiple evidence-based treatments are available for individuals with risk for suicide.

Although there are reports that suggest increased proportions of emergency-department visits for mental-health treatment or suicide-related behaviors in youth during the pandemic, this increase appears to be the result of a lower frequency of emergency-department visits overall. In fact, the actual numbers of visits for mental-health crises appear comparable to prior years. Until more data become available, it remains unclear if there have been changes in severity and intensity of mental-health crises. However, because seeking help is associated with suicide prevention, the rise in emergency-department visits could also reflect an ongoing commitment by caregivers toward treating serious mental-health concerns.
Schools play an important role in identifying risk for suicide, linking young people to care, providing comprehensive suicide-prevention programs, and facilitating social connections among youth. Schools also harbor known risk factors for suicide, including negative social interactions, bullying, and academic stressors. Thus, whether remote learning increases or decreases, suicide risk likely varies from child to child.

Only 8% of students identified "interacting with teachers/school employees" as an activity that helped them maintain a positive state of mind in school during the pandemic.

As a school psychology researcher and professor, I study how schools can play a key role in suicide prevention. With the shift to remote learning, I have focused on understanding how schools can best continue to enhance suicide prevention in youth. I have also been closely following how the media has covered suicide prevention in the context of remote learning. Many reports convey messages that reflect negative outcomes as though they are final and unchangeable. Critically, there have been multiple, unfounded claims that rates of suicide are increasing or linked to remote learning. This is deeply concerning as it paints a false picture of a situation that remains uncertain.

Over the past few months, my colleagues and I have been surveying and speaking with school support professionals who are employing creative strategies to support suicide-prevention efforts and continue to connect with kids. I am hopeful about the potential for these remarkable professionals to have a positive effect on our youth. Some of these strategies, which are based on findings from my own research funded by several federal and private sponsors and other existing research, include:

Prioritizing connections with and between students. Allot nonacademic time for students, for example, asking students to answer fun discussion questions in smaller breakout rooms.

Integrating social and emotional learning into student and professional-development curricula.

Using multiple methods for reaching out to students. Consider emailing, calling, texting, video conferencing, and conducting home visits.

Offering counseling services, with a protocol for ensuring parents are available for sessions.

Providing information and resources to students and families, including suicide-prevention hotlines, crisis text lines, and community-based resources.

Learning about the warning signs and risk factors for suicide and how to connect students to care.

Establishing clear protocols for in-school and community-based referrals, virtual risk assessments, adapted safety planning, and emergency services such as mobile crisis.

Checking in with students, families, and colleagues regularly to identify ways to improve these approaches over time.

Practicing self-care and staying connected with your colleagues.

The shift to distance learning will have consequences, but we must continue to distinguish among reports of what can happen, what is happening, and what should happen. We need to tackle ongoing concerns of inequity and psychological distress, while being careful not to assume the worst. If we remain open to the possibility of multiple effects from remote learning, we won't miss opportunities to reinforce and celebrate the successes of our children, even in the midst of a pandemic.

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What We Know About Suicide During the Pandemic (and What We Don't) (Opinion)

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We don't yet understand the effects of remote learning on student mental health. As parents, educators, mental-health professionals, and researchers, we must distinguish among projections of risk (what we think might happen), current practice (what is actually happening), and our next steps (what we think should happen next).

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*   An abrupt spike in suicide deaths among students in the Clark County School District has officials in the Las Vegas district wondering if pressures brought on by the coronavirus pandemic might have been part of what fueled the increase
*   Within Clark County School District, there were 19 suicides by students since the district shut down.
*   Other places are seeing a rise in 2020 numbers compared with 2019 as well.
*   According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, between April and October 2020, hospital emergency departments saw a rise in the share of total visits that were from kids for mental health needs.

Reference:
Chatterjee, R. (2021)   NPR, Houston Public Media. Child Psychiatrists Warn That The Pandemic May Be Driving Up Kids' Suicide Risk. Retrieved from https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2021/02/02/962060105/child-psychiatrists-warn-that-the-pandemic-may-be-driving-up-kids-suicide-risk

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For ways to help kids at risk, read Part 2 of this story.
If you or someone you know may be considering suicide, contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255 (en español: 1-888-628-9454; deaf and hard of hearing: dial 711, then 1-800-273-8255) or the Crisis Text Line by texting HOME to 741741.

Anthony Orr was almost done with his high school coursework when the governor of Nevada ordered a statewide shutdown of nonessential businesses on March 17, 2020.

"He was looking forward to all of the senior activities, prom and graduation," says his mother, Pamela Orr. But all he got was a "mini [graduation] ceremony," with only a handful of students walking, wearing masks and at a distance from each other.

"That was the most we could do because of COVID," she says.

Anthony graduated with honors as he had planned to, wearing a white robe and cap and an advanced honors sash, says Pamela. But he decided against going to college.

"Right now ... it's all online, and you just lose the whole college experience," she says.

Instead, he got a job working in construction. His parents thought he was doing fine. "He seemed happy to us," says Pamela. "He seemed happy."

But in August of last year, Anthony died by suicide.

While Pamela and her husband, Marc, struggle to come to terms with their loss, his school district in Las Vegas is trying to come to grips with the troubling statistic his death is part of.

He was one of 19 students who died by suicide in the district since the shutdown last March. Thirteen of those deaths occurred since July.

"There's a sense of urgency," says Jesus Jara, the superintendent of the Clark County School District. "You know, we have a problem."

Suicide is complex, involving layers of risk factors, including biological and environmental ones. And it's hard to know the exact factors involved in the deaths of these 19 students.

But the sudden rise in deaths has school district officials worried that the coronavirus pandemic may have played a role. And educators and mental health care providers in other parts of the United States have the same concern.

In recent months, many suicidal children have been showing up in hospital emergency departments, and more kids are needing in-patient care after serious suicide attempts.

"Across the country, we're hearing that there are increased numbers of serious suicidal attempts and suicidal deaths," says Dr. Susan Duffy, a professor of pediatrics and emergency medicine at Brown University.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, between April and October 2020, hospital emergency departments saw a rise in the share of total visits that were from kids for mental health needs.

Now, there are no nationwide numbers on suicide deaths in 2020 yet, and researchers have yet to clearly link recent suicides to the pandemic. Yet on the ground, there's growing concern.

NPR spoke with providers at hospitals in seven states across the country, and all of them reported a similartrend: More suicidal children are coming to their hospitals - in worse mental states.

"The kids that we are seeing now in the emergency department are really at the stage of maybe even having tried or attempted or have a detailed plan," says Dr. Vera Feuer, director of pediatric emergency psychiatry at Cohen Children's Medical Center of Northwell Health in New York. "And we're admitting to the hospital more kids than usual because of how unwell they are."

She has seen a slight increase in 10-to-11-year-olds attempting, but the majority of kids she sees are teenagers.

Other places are seeing a rise in 2020 numbers compared with 2019 as well.

The number of kids with suicide attempts coming to the emergency room at UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital Oakland, in California, in the fall of 2020 was double the number in the fall of 2019, says Marisol Cruz Romero, a psychologist and the coordinator for the hospital's behavioral emergency response team.

At Riley Hospital for Children in Indianapolis, the number of children and teens hospitalized after suicide attempts went up from 67 in 2019 to 108 in 2020. And October 2020 saw a 250% increase in these numbers over the previous October, says Hillary Blake, a pediatric psychologist at the hospital.

Psychiatrists and other doctors who work with children say the pandemic has created a perfect storm of stressors for kids, increasing the risk of suicide for many. It has exacerbated an ongoing children's mental health crisis - suicide rates had already been going up for almost a decade among children and youth.
Suicide can be prevented, and family members can play a role in keeping kids well. For ways to help kids at risk, Loss of critical in-person support services read Part 2 of this story.
The problems brought on by the pandemic, they say, only highlight the weaknesses in the mental health safety net for children - and point to an urgent need for new solutions.

"The stories that we hear day by day in the emergency department really speak to us about the level of difficulties, the layers of traumas and the real problems that families are facing," says Feuer.

Many young people, like Anthony Orr, have no diagnosis or known history of mental illness when they start struggling with thoughts of suicide.

But the children who are most vulnerable right now, says Duffy, are the ones with underlying physical or mental illness, because the pandemic has disrupted in-person services they relied on in communities and at school.

"They have difficulties with their mood or difficulties with learning or socialization or medical issues," says Feuer. "And now you have other layers of difficulties on top of that. These are the kids we see in real hopeless moments."

Before the pandemic, many of these children were "relatively stable in the community with outpatient resources," says Duffy.

For example, Duffy saw a 13-year-old in her ER recently who had underlying anxiety and depression. The at-home and in-school services she relied on had been suspended.
Falling off the radar
Without those supports, her mental health worsened and she started to fall behind at school, says Duffy. The girl turned to self-harm and eventually attempted suicide.

"It was her [older] teenage sister who found her in the bathroom and who called their mother, who had to leave work," says Duffy.

Feuer recalls seeing a 14-year-old last fall who began to struggle at school after developing a medical issue that hadn't been properly diagnosed because of pandemic-related delays in care. He was in constant pain and couldn't focus on schoolwork, she says.

On top of that, the pandemic had taken away his access to sports, "which was his world and life," says Feuer. "And then he looks at you and says, 'What's the point? What do I have to look forward to? You tell me, what do I have to be hopeful about?' "

Another layer of risk right now is that virtual schooling has made it much harder for teachers and school counselors to identify and help students who are struggling.

When Nevada shut down last March and the Clark County School District switched to virtual learning, Colleen Neely, a counselor at Shadow Ridge High School, on the outskirts of Las Vegas, tried her best to stay connected with her students by email.

But it wasn't as easy as being in the school together, she says.

"There are just extra barriers," says Neely. "We're not there just in passing, or they can't go to their teacher and be like, 'Hey, I want to see my counselor.' They can't stop in at lunch. They have to make that effort with an email or clicking on a computer to make an appointment."

In May, Neely's supervisor called her to give her the news that one of her favorite students had died.

"He was a smart ... shy kind of kid," says Neely. "Very kind, polite and respectful."

She was used to seeing him every day as he would stop by her office to check in. She says he had been homeless for a while and had some emotional struggles too. The school had eventually found him a family to live with.

And he'd been doing really well when the school switched to virtual learning, says Neely.

"He was passing all of his classes, going to earn the highest-level diploma that we offer at our school. So he was in a really good place," she says.
Social isolation
She was devastated to hear that he'd taken his own life.

"I'd just sent him an email, telling him how proud I was of him," Neely says. "And that he was almost there. And the next phase of his life was going to start."

Neely doesn't know the exact circumstances that led to his death. But she knew he was at risk because of his past struggles. And she wonders if someone could have helped him if the pandemic hadn't upended everything.

"Part of me will always question, if we had been in the building - and if he had been able to just see another adult, his friends, possibly talk to me - if things would have been different."

Losing the in-person interactions of life at school is itself a big risk factor.

"The vast majority of my patients want to go back to school, miss the social contacts, miss the life that they have," says Dr. Richard Martini, a professor of pediatrics and psychiatry at the University of Utah. "I mean, these kids really do have a separate life in school that's important to them."

It's among the reasons that the American Academy of Pediatrics is encouraging school districts to aim to bring back students into classrooms safely.
New kinds of stress at home
"There's a level of social isolation for these kids ... that they have not experienced before," Martini adds.

That isolation isn't just because schools are closed but also because the pandemic has restricted people's social lives. And that has a big impact, especially for kids in communities where extended family networks matter a lot, like where Romero, of UCSF's Oakland Children's Hospital, works.

"Many of our patients that do have a mental health history, they really depend on extended family to be able to support them," she says. "And that's been really challenging lately."

And social isolation is "one of the highest risk factors," for suicide, she says.

Amid the upheaval of the pandemic, the home environment has become unstable for many kids, says Martini, pointing to job and income loss as major stressors.

Especially vulnerable are kids from families hit hardest by the pandemic among communities of color.

"Either they had the virus, they lost people to the virus or they're impacted because they are a minority and their community ... [has suffered] losses over losses," says Feuer.

Dr. Warren Ng, a child psychiatrist at Columbia University Medical Center, says one of his patients, a boy, told him he wanted to die after watching his father die from COVID-19.

Romero also recalls suicidal kids she has seen recently who have lost family members to the virus or have parents who are currently sick and hospitalized.

"Families who have lost family members, parents who have lost jobs, kids who have lost contact with people who are close to them, children who have experienced some significant challenges at school," says Martini. "All of these experiences are fairly traumatic."
Suicide can be prevented, and family members can play a role in keeping kids well. For ways to help kids at risk, Thinking about prevention read Part 2 of this story.
A child faced with these layers of difficulties can easily start to feel overwhelmed, he says.

"They may also be in a position where they feel they can't talk to anybody, even their parents," he says. "And as the number of solutions for that situation dwindle, they may begin to think that I'd rather be dead than sort through this."

Especially when there is so much uncertainty around when the pandemic will end.

"I think it's the coupling of those things that are pretty daunting for a lot of our youth," says Dr. Nasuh Malas, a psychiatrist and pediatrician at the University of Michigan. "I mean, these are kids, right?"

In Clark County, the school district is grappling with what it can do to prevent more suicides. Last July, it started using a software that alerts staff when it identifies at-risk students by monitoring their online activity. The staff then contact parents and offer support.

"We're trying to find kids that are just the 'silent screamers,' " says Jesus Jara, the district superintendent.

In October, the district hosted a series of listening sessions with parents and other stakeholders to try to understand what's going on with student mental health and how to help. Based on the feedback it received, it is in the process of bringing some kids back to in-person school in small groups for academic and social and emotional support.
A crisis, but also an opportunity
Nearly six months since their son died, Marc and Pamela Orr are still struggling to cope with their trauma and grief.

"Sleep is elusive," says Pamela. "Any time can be a hard time. I mean, I can be in the grocery store, and I see his favorite breakfast cereal, and I just have to stop what I'm doing and just leave because anything, everything can be a trigger for the intense sadness."

To cope, she and her husband go on long walks every day. They are also seeing a therapist for the first time and talking to other parents of youth who died by suicide. And in the process, they find themselves asking questions about suicide and mental health that they'd never asked before.

For example, why don't schools and workplaces talk more openly about mental health and suicide?

"At work, we have all these tools - hard hats, gloves and glasses" to safely work with electricity, says Marc, who's a crew foreman for NV Energy. "We have nothing for mental health. ... It's not talked about. Everybody turns a blind eye to it because it's taboo, it's icky."

He also wonders why schools don't have mental wellness checks for students. "They get well-checks, you know," he says. "Insurance pays for a well-check. But there's not any mental [health] screening that's done or emotional screening."

The rise in mental health problems among children should spur the country to fix its mental health care system, argues Dr. Jennifer Havens, a child and adolescent psychiatrist at New York University.

"Crisis is often an opportunity," she says.

To start, the U.S. should provide routine mental health checks for kids from a young age and their families, she says: "It should be just part of what we do to keep people well."

Hospitals and behavioral health care providers are already required to do depression screenings for adolescents, she says; schools should also be doing these screenings.

"We have to be able to identify the kids ... particularly for getting kids who are in early stages before they're really sick, and help them," says Havens. "You don't have to wait until kids try to kill themselves."

And mental health care providers can help teachers learn to spot the early signs of problems, says Martini.

The solutions aren't just at schools. We also need better access to mental health care services for kids, says Martini.

"There is an incredible backlog in getting children mental health services," he says. "If I had all the money in the world, I think what I would do is really invest in a broad scope of services for teenagers and children."

Those services would include day treatment programs that are less intense than in-patient units and can diagnose a child's problems. He would also expand access to telepsychiatry and create more programs that send mental health care workers into people's homes.

But the biggest roadblock in making all this a reality is a lack of parity in insurance coverage for mental and physical health, says Havens.

"There are a lot of preventive interventions that are effective," she says. "But the way the [mental health care] system is set up, we can't actually get paid to do that."

Ultimately, the country needs to invest in kids' mental health, she adds. But, "there's no magic bullet here," she says. "We need to have a robust [mental health] care system ... and insurance companies need to pay for it."

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Child Psychiatrists Warn That The Pandemic May Be Driving Up Kids' Suicide Risk

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For ways to help kids at risk, read Part 2 of this story . If you or someone you know may be considering suicide, contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255 (en español: 1-888-628-9454; deaf and hard of hearing: dial 711, then 1-800-273-8255) or the Crisis Text Line by texting HOME to 741741.

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More school-age children are either considering or attempting suicide, according to a study published in the medical journal Pediatrics-and the findings suggest that youth may face increased stress and mental health challenges when classes are in session.

Using a month-by-month analysis of the data, researchers from Vanderbilt University found seasonal trends: suicide-related diagnoses peaked during the fall and spring, and dropped sharply in the summer. Previous research has found that adult suicide is most likely to occur during summer months.

"Recent media attention has been focused on how schools and social media impact behavior and the role social contagion may play," the researchers wrote. "With our findings, we underscore the need for future work to explore the relationship between school and suicidal [thoughts], recognizing that the role of academics is a complex one."

In 2015, the U.S. Preventative Services Task Force recommended depression screenings for teens, but did not take a strong stance on similar screenings for younger children.

Over the course of the study period, the proportion of emergency room and hospital encounters for suicide-related diagnoses more than doubled. The 31 children's hospitals reported 35,000 suicide-related diagnoses between 2008 and 2011. From 2012 to 2015, the number increased to roughly 80,000.

That rate of increase was highest among adolescent girls. Overall, girls accounted for more than two-thirds of hospital encounters. The researchers wrote that the findings have "important implications for exploring age- and sex-specific approaches to suicide screening and prevention interventions."

While increases were seen across all age groups, they were highest among teens ages 15 to17, followed by ages 12 to 14.

Just over half of the encounters were children ages 15-17; another 37 percent were children ages 12-14; and roughly 13 percent were elementary-level children, ranging from ages 5 to11.

The Vanderbilt researchers used data from the Pediatric Health Information System to identify emergency department encounters, observation stays, and inpatient hospitalizations tied to suicide-related diagnoses.
Related Stories

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Threat of Child Suicide Is Highest During the School Year, Study Finds

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More school-age children are either considering or attempting suicide, according to a study published in the medical journal Pediatrics-and the findings suggest that youth may face increased stress and mental health challenges when classes are in session.

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*  COVID-19 brought a mental health crisis for Texas teens.      *   Billions In Federal Aid Could Help

*  Part of more than $2 billion in federal funding on its way to Texas school districts will go to help address teen mental health.
*  Another $4 billion from the American Rescue Plan will also go towards addressing mental health for the general public through community health clinics.
Reference:
Trovall, E. ( 2021)  NPR.  COVID-19 Brought A Mental Health Crisis For Texas Teens. Billions In Federal Aid Could Help  Retrieved from:  https://www.houstonpublicmedia.org/articles/news/education-news/2021/03/23/394114/texas-teens-face-suicidal-thoughts-as-pandemic-exacerbates-stress-isolation/

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The following story contains references to self harm. If you or someone you know is contemplating self harm, you can call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 800-273-8255.
Education News

A Pearland teen is speaking out after a majority of her peers responded to a survey saying they thought about self harm. The findings are in line with what mental health professionals are saying: teens are facing a mental health crisis.

Part of more than $2 billion in federal funding on its way to Texas school districts will go to help address teen mental health - which has gotten worse during the COVID-19 pandemic, experts say.

In total, Texas school districts are poised to get more than $11 billion through the American Rescue Plan, a stimulus package signed into law by President Biden earlier this month. Twenty percent of that will be designated for three purposes: helping vulnerable students, catching up kids with pandemic learning loss, and social and emotional wellbeing.

Josette Saxton, a mental health policy expert with Texans Care for Children, said that money could be "pretty huge" in addressing the increasing number of students struggling with their mental health during the pandemic.

"Districts will have the opportunity to use some of that funding to address the social, emotional needs of their kids," Saxton said. "The question there is, do they know what to do with it?"

Listen

State lawmakers previously took steps to address student mental health in the wake of the Santa Fe High School shooting, in which 10 people were killed. Those were among the first considerable steps Texas has taken to addressing mental health in schools, Saxton said. The legislation mandated that schools have their own plans in place to address the mental health of students.

"Schools should have practices and procedures related to mental health prevention and intervention, substance use prevention and intervention, suicide prevention, intervention and postvention," Saxton said.

Another $4 billion from the American Rescue Plan will also go towards addressing mental health for the general public through community health clinics.

COVID-19 has made a bad situation worse in Texas, which scored second-to-last nationally in access to mental health care for both kids and adults in a 2021 Mental Health America report.

For students like 16-year-old Alice Murphey, the pandemic has made it harder to cope with the workload and pressures of a competitive grading system.

Alice, who attends Dawson High School in Pearland, wanted to know what it was like for her fellow students. So she created a peer survey to address mental health.

"It would overly stress me out, and I felt that a lot of people felt the same way," Alice said.

She sent a Google form to students - more than 500 responded to questions - which asked things like how many advanced classes they took, and how many hours they slept at night. Eleven percent of students said they slept three hours or less.

But answers to her final question shocked Alice most of all: How often do you have thoughts about suicide or self-harm?

"Twelve percent of people said, 'often' - so they think about it very often," Alice said. "And then 6% of 526 responses said that they 'always' think about suicide or self-harm."

Dr. Jon Stevens, a teen psychiatrist with the Menninger Clinic, said those findings aren't surprising - especially considering how much he's seen teen mental health worsen over the past year.

"To me the suicidal thoughts and prevalence of that is consistent with some larger studies of insurance claims," Stevens said.

One recent study by insurance claims repository Fair Health found the share of mental health claims for high school-aged kids doubled in March and April of 2020, around the time the World Health Organization declared the COVID-19 pandemic.

In his own office, Stevens said he's seen the need for help double.

"I think young people have proven especially vulnerable to mental health issues, especially related to COVID-19 and the pandemic," Stevens said.

School closures, remote learning and isolating from friends are stressors that disproportionately impact teens, he said.

"Then you talk about the lack of access to quality mental health care not only here in Houston but beyond," Stevens said, adding that there aren't enough pediatric therapists, psychiatrists or school counselors to go around.

In an emailed statement, the Pearland Independent School District told Houston Public Media that it has made counselors available online and trained student leaders to support each other's mental health.

"Each high school campus has a wellness student group, aka suicide prevention student group, where students learn about resources and how to help peers and others in need," a district spokesperson said in the email.

But tenth-grader Alice said what would ease a lot of anxiety for her is if they modified the GPA policy. and if she didn't have to take as many advanced classes to stay competitive with her peers.

All of that was stressful before the pandemic, she said. Now it's even worse.

"I feel like the only good parts of school are gone," Murphey said, "Because I somewhat enjoyed going to school here and now I just completely hate it."

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COVID-19 Brought A Mental Health Crisis For Texas Teens. Billions In Federal Aid Could Help | Houston Public Media

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A Pearland teen is speaking out after a majority of her peers responded to a survey saying they thought about self harm. The findings are in line with what mental health professionals are saying: teens are facing a mental health crisis.

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*    “Youth Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Act of 2021”
*    In general the Secretary, acting through the Director of the Center for Mental Health Services of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, may carry out a program to award grants, on a competitive basis, to eligible entities to enhance services for high school students with mental health and behavioral health issues that can lead to school failure, including depression, substance abuse, and suicide attempts.
*  A grant awarded under this section may only be used, with respect to high school students served by an eligible entity.

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*  The agency, in coordination with the Health and Human Services Commission and regional education service centers, shall provide and annually update a list of recommended best practice-based programs and research-based practices in the areas specified under Subsection (c) for implementation in public elementary, junior high, middle, and high schools within the general education setting.

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Texas Education Code Section 38.351 - Mental Health Promotion and Intervention, Substance Abuse Prevention and Intervention, and Suicide Prevention - 2019 Texas Statutes - Texas Statutes

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Title 2, Public Education; Subtitle G, Safe Schools; Chapter 38, Health and Safety; Section 38.351, Mental Health Promotion and Intervention, Substance Abuse Prevention and Intervention, and Suicide Prevention. Refreshed: 2020-09-20

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*    Public schools in Texas must have a “district improvement plan” which must include strategies for suicide prevention. Advocates of suicide prevention should work with their school district’s local committees and stakeholders to ensure the district’s plan and training includes methods for addressing suicide prevention.

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*    To provide information on public school policy. Public schools in Texas must have a “district improvement plan,” which may include strategies for suicide prevention. Advocates of suicide prevention should work with their school district’s local committees and stakeholders to ensure the district’s plan includes methods for addressing suicide prevention.

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*   Mental Health First Aid uses role-playing and simulations to demonstrate how to assess a mental health crisis; select interventions and provide initial help; and connect young people to professional, peer, social, and self-help care.

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Youth Mental Health First Aid USA is an 8-hour public education program which introduces participants to the unique risk factors and warning signs of mental health problems in adolescents, builds understanding of the importance of early intervention, and teaches individuals how to help an adolescent in crisis or experiencing a mental health challenge. Mental Health First Aid uses role-playing and simulations to demonstrate how to assess a mental health crisis; select interventions and provide initial help; and connect young people to professional, peer, social, and self-help care.
WHAT WILL PARTICIPANTS LEARN?
The course teaches participants the risk factors and warning signs of a variety of mental health challenges common among adolescents, including anxiety, depression, psychosis, eating disorders, AD/HD, disruptive behavior disorders, and substance use disorder. Participants do not learn to diagnose, nor how to provide any therapy or counseling - rather, participants learn to support a youth developing signs and symptoms of a mental illness or in an emotional crisis by applying a core five-step action plan:

® A ssess for risk of suicide or harm

® L isten nonjudgmentally

® G ive reassurance and information

® E ncourage appropriate professional help

® E ncourage self-help and other support strategies

The Youth Mental Health First Aid USA curriculum is primarily focused on information participants can use to help adolescents and transition-age youth, ages 12-18.
WHO SHOULD TAKE THE COURSE?
The course is designed for adults who regularly interact with adolescents (teachers, school staff, coaches, youth group leaders, parents, etc.), but is being tested for appropriateness within older adolescent groups (16 and older) so as to encourage youth peer to peer interaction. Campus Behavior Coordinators are strongly encouraged to attend.
WHAT ARE THE HISD training dates?

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Crisis Intervention / Youth Mental Health First Aid

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Youth Mental Health First Aid USA is an 8-hour public education program which introduces participants to the unique risk factors and warning signs of mental health problems in adolescents, builds understanding of the importance of early intervention, and teaches individuals how to help an adolescent in crisis or experiencing a mental health challenge.

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As counselors, we will be faced with very challenging situations that require tactfulness in dealing with such delicate cases when dealing with suicidal students and their parents. We must exercise extreme caution in relating the news of a possible suicide, suicide ideation, or completed act of suicide by their child. Legal guidance can be reached to assist counselors in a suicide that has taken place at the school campus due to the potential risks of parents misinterpreting or believing that the school would be responsible for their child's suicide on campus.

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B.5.b. Responsibility to Parents and Legal Guardians Counselors inform parents and legal guardians about the role of counselors and the confidential nature of the counseling relationship, consistent with current legal and custodial arrangements. Counselors are sensitive to the cultural diversity of families and respect the inherent rights and responsibilities of parents/guardians regarding the welfare of their children/charges according to law. Counselors work to establish, as appropriate, collaborative relationships with parents/guardians to best serve clients.

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School counselors work to identify behavioral and social/emotional signs of suicide risk among their students and ensure prevention methods are in place. It is the school counselor’s ethical and moral responsibility to report suspected suicide risk to legal guardians and the appropriate authorities. In acknowledging suspected suicide risk, school counselors exercise reasonable care to protect students from unforeseeable harm (ASCA, 2016).

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The School Counselor and Suicide Prevention/Awareness

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School counselors work to identify behavioral and social/emotional signs of suicide risk among their students and ensure prevention methods are in place. It is the school counselor's ethical and moral responsibility to report suspected suicide risk to legal guardians and the appropriate authorities.

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https://www.cdc.gov/suicide/prevention/index.html