If you work in schools as a teacher or any other position where you regularly spend time with students, you could be a life saver.
Schools are a key setting for suicide prevention. Teachers, mental health providers, and all other school personnel who interact with students can play an important role in keeping them safe.
Why Address Suicide Prevention
- Maintaining a safe school environment is part of your school's overall mission.
- Students' mental health can affect how well they perform in school.
- Suicide can affect the entire school community.
How Schools Can Take Action
The best way to prevent suicide is to use a comprehensive approach that includes these key components:
- Promote emotional well-being and connectedness among all students.
- Identify students who may be at risk for suicide and assist them in getting help.
- Be prepared to respond when a suicide death occurs.
From the SPRC – Suicide Prevention Resource Center: https://www.sprc.org/settings/schools
A
Culture of Caring: A Suicide Prevention Guide for Schools (K-12) was
created as a resource for educators who want to know how to get started and
what steps to take to create a suicide prevention plan that will work for their
schools and districts. It is written from my perspective as a school principal
and survivor of suicide loss, not an expert in psychology or counseling. I hope
that any teacher, school counselor, psychologist, principal, or district
administrator can pick up this book, flip to a chapter, and easily find helpful
answers to the questions they are likely to have about what schools can do to
prevent suicide.
