Developing a Suicide Intervention Program in Your School

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http://bul.sagepub.com/NASSP Bulletin

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DOI: 10.1177/0192636586070487121986 70: 51NASSP Bulletin

Richard J. KonetDeveloping a Suicide Intervention Program in Your School

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Developing a SuicideIntervention Program in

Your School

BY RICHARD J. KONET

RICHARD J. KONET is assistant principal,Westfield (N.J.) Senior High School.

Teenage depression and suicide are a growing problem acrossthis nation. Heres how one school developed a program to assisttroubled youngsters.

1HEALARMING INCREASE in

the national teenage suicide rate

prompted faculty members at West-field (N.J.) Senior High School to in-

vestigate the possibility of developing asuicide prevention team at the school.Agood deal of time and energy wentinto this investigation. We identified 12

steps in developing what was later to becalled our Crisis Management Team.1. Consider your personal com-

mitment. Each potential volunteershould look at his or her time in-

volvement not only during theschool day but also during time out-side of the school.

2. Analyze your daily schedule. If the

assignments for the year seemoverwhelming to begin with, it

would not be a

goodidea to volun-

teer for service on a suicide pre-

vention team.

3. Reflect on your personality andcharacter. Individuals should ask

themselves if they have the proper

physical and emotional make-up tobecome part of a team which will

deal with teenage depression and

suicide.

4. Review pertinent literature on ado-lescent depression and suicide.

5. Take a careful look at your student

body. It is important to conduct aneeds assessment as well as an

evaluation as to how many of your

students might be at risk.

6. Develop dialog with your peers.One of the primary goals of school-based suicide prevention programsis to develop a network so help is

always available throughout the

building.

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7. Look for model programs. We at

Westfield were fortunate in that we

could draw from a Northern New

Jersey school that already had expe-rience in this field and had a similar

student body. It is imperative thateach program be modeled on one

with some similar experiences.8. Plan and design your training pro-

gram. Check with local universities

and community mental health ser-

vices to ascertain who runs pro-

grams in suicide diagnosis and pre-

vention and which programs wouldbe applicable to your purposes.Many counties will have a guide tomental health services that can be

of further benefit to you.

9. Consider local and county re-

sources. Here, too, you will find a

great many resources. There are

those whowill come to

speakto

you and your staff, and there are

those with whom you will want to

visit for a few hours to make sure

that you can make referrals to them

and they will follow through appro-priately.

10. Be prepared to develop extensivecontacts with parents and com-

munity members. This is vital,since you need the support of par-ents and you will need the backingof your community.

11. Develop an organizational flowchart with proper administrative

support.12. Plan information programs for your

staff and students. Your main ob-

jective with the staff will be to edu-cate them to the symptoms of ado-

lescent depression and suicide.Your main objective with the stu-dents is to encourage them to come

to you and seek help when theyneed it.

All members of our Crisis Manage-ment Team participate in workshopsconducted by a local mental health

agency.

Ayear or so ago we developed a bro-chure designed to familiarize studentsand parents with our programs. The

brochure was given to all students and,much to our satisfaction, we discovered

that a great many of the students took it

home to share with their parents.

How ReferralsAre Made

Alist of the members of the Crisis

Management Team and the times oftheir availability is posted in various

places in the building. All of theseteachers and staff members work on a

voluntary basis, and often give up their

preparation timeto

deal with students incrisis. It is important that each memberknow where other members are duringany period of the day so that networkingcan take place.Areferral can be initiated at anylevel. We have had parents call a mem-

ber of our Crisis Management Team, a

pupil come to us directly, a pupil cometo us telling us about another pupil, aCrisis Management Team member iden-

tifying a possible need with an indi-vidual student, a teacher who is not on

the Crisis Management Team notingsigns of depression and alerting one ofthe Crisis Management Team members,and even an anonymous telephone call

from a community member.At this point the process is set in mo-

tion. Normally, we try to contact theindividual youngster directly as soon as

possible after we have determined the

extact nature of the referral.



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The case is then assigned to one of theCrisis Management Team members whowill talk with the student as soon as

possible. Whatever information the in-dividual gains from the student is al-

ways shared immediately with anotherteam member. If the opinions are con-

flicting or if problems remain unre-solved, the school psychologist is no-tified to act as a further resource person.

All of these teachers and staff

members work on a voluntarybasis, and often give up theirpreparation time to deal withstudents in crisis.

Problems are often solved at the team

level, but sometimes referrals outside of

the

buildingare

necessary.These refer-

rals are only conducted by the child

study team or the school psychologist.The team member has at his or her dis-

posal the other members of the team, the

guidance counselor, the child studyteam, and names of outside agencies tocall on a relatively anonymous basis.

Referrals made outside the building are

always followed up and monitored care-

fully.Cases are recorded on index cards

kept in a box in the nurses office. This

way any member of the team can thumb

through the box and see any of the cur-rent and past cases. This could be quiteimportant when a student is involved

who might have been referred previ-ously. The team member can look at the

disposition from the previous episodeand have a clearer idea of how to pro-ceed on the current problem.After an assessment has been made of

the individual, the case is normally con-

cluded at the next debriefing session, at

which time questions may be posed as tohow the case was handled, who did

what, how the pupil reacted, and what

might be looked for in the future.The parents of any youngster who

mentions suicide are contacted. This is

necessary to protect the student as well

as the school. We have had to do this a

number of times, and each instance has

been met with gratitude by the parents.Recruitment of new team members is

a continuous process. At present, wehave staff representation from every de-

partment in the school and literally from

every area of the school building. Sothat students may readily identify these

people, we have developed a bulletinboard that contains recent pictures of theCrisis Management Team members as

well as the time

periodsin which

theyare available.

Student Representation

It quickly became apparent to us thatwe needed further input, preferablyfrom the students themselves. Conse-

quently, we ran an advertisement in theschool newspaper, asking for student

volunteers for the Crisis ManagementTeam. We have been fortunate to have a

good number of students interested in

serving on our committee, and we se-

lected the seven most qualified young-sters to come to our monthly meetings.The students are publicizing the team

among the student body and are giving

us insight into how the student body ingeneral is behaving from week to week

throughout the school year. It is impor-tant to note the impact of mid-term

examinations, testing periods, up-coming vacations, and the like.



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It would appear that student represen-

tation is an important part of any suicide

prevention program. Our program doesnot at this time have any form of student

counseling, but this may develop as ourteam continues to evolve.

Suicide prevention programs inthe school are not a fad;rather they are an instrumentalpart of the total education of

each youngster.

Final Concerns

We must emphasize that the most im-

portant factors in beginning a suicide

prevention program include:0 Be patient. Conduct a needs assess-.

ment, know your student body, and en-

courage your most able staff members to

be a part of the team.

0 Plan and organize carefully, with

your goals being to educate the staff andto gain credibility among the students.. Develop parental and communitysupport so that the network you developis not only viable in the school buildingbut throughout the community at large.Remember, if you only save one young-ster in an entire school year, your pro-

gram has been a success.

Suicide prevention programs in theschool are not a fad; rather they are an

instrumental part of the total education

of each youngster. The Crisis Manage-ment Team at Westfield High School

can be proud of the fact that it has as-sisted a number of depressed or poten-tially suicidal youngsters.

Attention: State Boards of Education

State boards of education can make the greatest impact on alleviating the

problems of dropouts, unemployment, and illiteracy through the education policiesthey establish, according to Owen B. Butler, chairman of the board of Proctor andGamble Company and chairman of the board of trustees of the Committee forEconomic Development.

Butler says that the place to fix the school is in the school, not in Washington orin the state capital. State boards should &dquo;go as far as you can&dquo; in setting standards forwhat students are required to achieve by a certain level but should not prescribe howthis is to be achieved.

&dquo;Dont prescribe methods,&dquo; he urges, &dquo;but instead prescribe results.&dquo;


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