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#1 : Topic: Suicide Prevention and Your Role as an Educator. Professional Perspective: As School counselors, we are a valuable resource in assisting school staff in identifying students experiencing suicidal ideation. Audience: School Staff and teachers are the front lines in helping to identify students who are suicidal. Rationale: As we approach the one-year mark of the Covid-19 pandemic, student mental health has suffered tremendously (Chatterjee, 2021). It is crucial educators learn their professional responsibilities in assisting students who are experiencing suicidal thoughts.

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#2: Summary of Topic: Students today face new challenges from social media pressures, and the social isolation Covid-19 has brought. The suicide rate for young people continues to climb each year (Prothero,2020). We as educators are legally obligated to respond when students are in crisis. Preventing student suicide is not just a legal liability; it is also an ethical issue. All educators must work together to save the lives of young people who are struggling. Emerging Issues: Educational laws continue to change and evolve along with our society. Social scientists are continuing to study the link between suicide and bullying for both the victim and the bully. Another area of interest is the impact of Covid-19 on young people's mental health. As the Texas legislator meets, three new bills that are a continuation of David's Law are up for debate:

SB 405 Requires students to take one mental health class in high school.

SB 406 Requires school board and trustee members to take a course on trauma-informed school care.

SB 407 Ask schools and school districts to track bullying and cyberbullying incidents. (Hernandez, 2021)

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#3 Professional Association: The American School Counselors Association, along with a few partners, has developed a booklet entitled: Model School District Policy on Suicide Prevention: Model Language, Commentary, and Resources. This booklet serves as a guide for schools and districts to ensure all students' mental health and safety are cared for. As the document explains, School districts have been sued, found liable, and negligent in cases where districts do not warn parents or guardians of a student's suicidal outcry or failed to provide the student with adequate support.

Link to Booklet: https://www.schoolcounselor.org/getmedia/9b28c170-607a-428f-9dae-619850fa531b/Model-School-District-Policy-Suicide-Prevention.pdf

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#4 Current News Article: Child Psychiatrists Warn That The Pandemic May Be Driving Up Kids' Suicide Risk

Nineteen students have died by suicide in the Clark County School District of Nevada since the pandemic began. As the Clark County district grapples with this disturbing trend, so does the rest of the country.

The suicide rate among young people is not yet out for 2020; researchers and mental health experts have many reasons to be worried.

The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) reports that hospitals saw a rise in visits within April and October 2020 due to adolescents suffering from mental health issues.

Social isolation is one of the highest risk facts for suicide; young people depend on school friends and family for support, and when that is gone, you can lose hope.

Loss of family stability, like family income, is a significant stressor for young people that can affect mood and a student's ability to learn.

Improving the United States mental health system would benefit all people, not just adolescents (Chatterjee, 2021).

Link to article:

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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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# 5 Current News Article: Teen Suicides Rising Sharply, Federal Data Show

According to the Centers for Dease control, the suicide rate for teens ages 15-19 has increased 76 percent between 2007 and 2017, while suicide rates for children 10-14 have tripled.

1 in 5 high school students has a serious thought of suicide within any 12 months.

Helpful reminders for teens: mental health struggles are part of life and completely normal; asking for help is not a sign of weakness, and

it is ok to talk to friends or school staff about your struggles.

Depression and mental illness look different to everyone; you don't have to "look depressed" to be depressed.

Educators should foster relationships, so students feel connected.

Bullying is associated with suicide due to its isolating effects on a person.

Don't be afraid to have those serious conversations about a pressing topic like suicide and mental health (Prothero, 2019

Link to article:

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Teen suicide rates have increased dramatically in the past decade, according to a report released on Thursday by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Suicide rates for teens between the ages of 15 and 19 increased by 76 percent between 2007 and 2017. And the suicide rate for 10- to 14-year-olds nearly tripled over that same time period, according to CDC's data.

It's a sharp reversal from the previous period-2000 to 2007-when the suicide rate had been stable for the 15-to-19 age group and had even declined for 10- to 14-year-olds.
If you are in crisis, please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255), or contact the Crisis Text Line by texting TALK to 741741
While still relatively rare, suicide is now the second leading cause of death among 10- to 19-year-olds. Accidents are the leading cause of death, while homicides rank third.

But the impact of a single suicide can have far reaching, negative effects for the friends, family, and classmates, said Stephen Brock, a professor and school psychology program coordinator at California State University, Sacramento.

"In a given five-year period, for your typically sized high school in the United States, you wouldn't expect more than one suicide death," he said. "It has been argued that the larger problem from a public health perspective, it's not the prevention of suicide, it is rather dealing with those left behind by a suicide."

Increasing suicide rates are part of an alarming trend of rising mental health issues among school children.

"It's not so much that there's large increases in mental illness, but the type and the severity of mental illness has gone up," said Brock, who formerly served as a president of the National Association of School Psychologists. "In particular we have seen pretty significant increases in girls needing to be hospitalized because of depression."

Nine out of 10 people who die by suicide, he said, suffer from a mental illness.

Schools often struggle with limited resources and expertise to deal with the wide range of mental-health needs that teens and younger children are now experiencing.

Still, experts say teachers, principals, coaches, and other school staff members are critical players in preventing suicide by recognizing students who may be at risk for harming themselves, by connecting those students with resources and support, and by building relationships throughout the school so that students have multiple people to turn to if they need help.

It's unclear why mental health issues are increasing among children and youth, though researchers are exploring a number of explanations, including the rise of smartphone and social media use, as well as the prevalence of bullying.
Related stories:

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Teen Suicides Rising Sharply, Federal Data Show

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Teen suicide rates have increased dramatically in the past decade, according to a report released on Thursday by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Suicide rates for teens between the ages of 15 and 19 increased by 76 percent between 2007 and 2017.

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#6 Original Sources of Law: Administrative

David's Law  (TX. SB -179)

David's Law revises the Texas Education Code requirements regarding bullying and includes cyberbullying.

The Law urges school districts to create a district-wide plan preventing bullying and incorporating mediation.

Incorporates anonymous reporting for students and includes cyberbullying on and off-campus.

Allows school principals to report severe bullying to local law enforcement and frees them from legal liability for doing so.

Increases the range of professional development to include trauma and grief-informed strategies.

David's Law encompasses all Texas public schools and open-enrollment charter schools but does not include private schools.

Original Source of Law:  https://legiscan.com/TX/research/SB179/2017

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#7 Original Sources of Law

Statutory (Tex. Educ. Code §11.252 (a)(3). (B)(i)) Texas Education Code Mental Health Promotion and Intervention: District improvement plans are required to include strategies for incorporating suicide prevention programs

One goal of a district improvement plan is to create positive change for all school system students. With a strong suicide prevention program, a school can significantly impact vulnerable youth and save lives.

Original source: https://texas.public.law/statutes/tex._educ._code_section_38.35

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#8 Original Sources of Law

Statutory (Tex.Educ.Code §21.451(d)(3))

Schools must train staff on suicide and prevention during professional development.

Topics of training during PD must include suicide prevention, recognizing the signs of mental health conditions, and substance abuse. Other issues include trauma-informed school, preventing bullying, positive relationships, etc.

This training must be given to all current and new district employees once a year and use best practices established by the TEA (Texas Education Agency) and Texas Human Services Commission.

Training Educators annually on mental health issues is key to saving lives.

Original source: https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/ED/htm/ED.21.htm

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#9 Original Sources of Law

Statutory (Tex. Educ. Code § 37.001(7)(c))

The district's code of conduct must prohibit and prevent bullying of any kind, and that district personal enforce these policies.

Meaning it is the Law that you as an educator enforce the district's bullying and harassment policies.

Bullying and harassment can lead to students self-harming or committing suicide. These laws are in place to protect our students and keep them safe in school.

Original source: https://texas.public.law/statutes/tex._educ._code_title_2_subtitle_g_chapter_37

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(Baab v. Medina City Sch. Bd. of Educ., 2015 Ohio 5315 (Ohio Ct. App. 2015)

Baab v. Medina City Schools: In this case, students told the school counselor, in four separate instances, that an 8th-grade student was self-harming and, on one occasion, threatened suicide. The counselor told the student's parents, who got boy professional mental health treatment. Two weeks later, the counselor received notice from another student that the boy had threatened to commit suicide via a text message he sent. This time the counselor did nothing, and a few days later, the boy committed suicide. The student's father sued the school district and the school counselor. The court found that qualified state immunity shielded the district from liability but declared that the case against the counselor could go to trial.

A school's responsibility

Schools do not have a responsibility to prevent student suicides, yet courts have found that schools may be legally liable for a student's suicide if they:

created a particular risk of suicide,

did not act prudently to warn parents of the risk of suicide, or

operated dangerously in carrying out their duties to the student.

(Underwood,2019)

Original source: https://law.justia.com/cases/ohio/ninth-district-court-of-appeals/2019/28969.html

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#11 Local Administrative Policy

Administrative

The Denton ISD employee handbook references a Policy that utilized a program for early mental health intervention and suicide prevention, including education for staff on early warning or the possible need for staff involvement. (DentonISD Handbook,2020)

Denton ISD follows the Texas Education Code 37.115(a). Each school will have a threat assessment team responsible for creating a "safe and supportive" school program following the TEA rules (Tex. Educ. Code § 37.115(a)).

Ask your AP, who is on your campus threat assessment team, if you have any questions. Your Responsive Services counselor or school counselor is also a great resource in this area.

Employee handbook link: https://pol.tasb.org/Policy/Download/383?filename=FFB(LEGAL).pdf

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#12 Ethical Principles

The American School Counselors Association (ASCA) Ethical Standards for School Counselors A.2. Confidentiality. This standard states school counselors must keep the information a student shares confidential unless "to prevent serious and foreseeable harm" of the student.

If the counselor does not know if they should breach confidentiality, a counselor should consult other relevant colleagues in the matter. Ethical dilemma and responsibility: If a student tells their school counselor," I don't want to live anymore, but please don't tell my parents, or they will get mad at me." It the legal and ethical responsibility of the counselor to tell the student's parents. The safety of the student is the school's and counselor's number one priority(ASCA ,2016).

Link to ASCA Code of Ethics

https://www.schoolcounselor.org/getmedia/f041cbd0-7004-47a5-ba01-3a5d657c6743/Ethical-Standards.pdf

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#13 Non-Law Source

The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) has a research-based booklet entitled: The Relationship Between Bullying and Suicide: What We Know and What it Means for Schools. This booklet is a valuable data-driven resource on the correlation between bullying and suicide. The booklet states that bullies and victims are both susceptible to self-harm.

Bullying and suicide-related behavior are both complicated public health problems.

Things that can affect bullying or thought of self-harm include:

• emotional pain

• vulnerability to violence

• family struggles

• relationship problems

• loss of connectedness to school/sense of supportive school setting

• alcohol and drug usage

• physical disabilities/learning differences

• loss of access to resources/support

Understanding the circumstances that cause these behaviors and actions is key to solving the problem of suicide and bullying.

(CDC,2919)

https://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/pdf/bullying-suicide-translation-final-a.pdf

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#14 List of Recommended Best Practices

1. Attend all required trainings your campus offers. These trainings are not only legally required; they could help you save a life.

2. Know your legal responsibilities as an Educator; if you feel a student is being bullied, reach out to your AP or school counselor. Don't be afraid to speak up!

3. Build relationships with your students. If students are in crisis, they are more likely to talk to you if they feel like they can trust you.

4. Know the signs of depression. Not all students "look depressed."

5. Remember the adverse effects Covid-19 has on students' mental health and be sensitive to their emotional state during this difficult time. This time is not normal, and many students are suffering silently through this pandemic.

6. Our students' safety is our number one priority; if you feel a student is in immediate danger of self-harm, DO NOT leave them alone until you can get them help.

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Chatterjee, R. (2021, February 2). Child Psychiatrists Warn That The Pandemic May Be Driving Up Kids' Suicide Risk. NPR. https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2021/02/02/962060105/child-psychiatrists-warn-that-the-pandemic-may-be-driving-up-kids-suicide-risk.

Hernandez, E. (2021, January 28). Proposed bill would require Texas high school students to take a mental health class. KSAT. https://www.ksat.com/news/local/2021/01/28/proposed-bill-would-require-texas-high-school-students-to-take-a-mental-health-class/.

Prothero, Arianna. "Teen Suicides Rising Sharply, Federal Data Show." Education Week, Education Week, 18 Nov. 2020, www.edweek.org/leadership/teen-suicides-rising-sharply-federal-data-show/2019/10.

"School Counseling Standards." Home - American School Counselor Association (ASCA), www.schoolcounselor.org/getmedia/9b28c170-607a-428f-9dae-619850fa531b/Model-School-District-Policy-Suicide-Prevention.pdf

Underwood . J "Student Suicide and School Liability ." Kappanonline.org, 28 Oct. 2019, kappanonline.org/student-suicide-school-liability-underwood/.