Examining the Youth Suicide Crisis

March 24, 2020

Resource: Blogs
Tags: K12 Education, Prevention

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), there has been a 56% increase in the rate of suicide among those aged 10 to 24 between 2007 and 2017. This makes suicide the leading cause of death for this age group. According to The Journal of Pediatrics, there has been a 400% increase, nationally, in suicide attempts since 2011.

The New York Times published an informative and in-depth article on the rise of youth suicide, utilizing the research of multiple experts to help emphasize the crisis in youth suicide that is going on today. Some key takeaways from this report include:

Experts believe that the rise in suicide rates correlates to the rise in social media.
Schools should invest their time and money on identifying students who are most vulnerable, helping them respond effectively to stress, and teaching them what they can do in a crisis.
Parents should regularly check in with their children.
To prepare young people to talk about their emotions from an early age, schools should start responsible conversations around suicide as early as elementary school.

How SafeSchools Can Help Schools Address the Youth Suicide Crisis

We recently hosted a webinar with youth suicide and school crisis expert, Dr. Scott Poland, on Youth Suicide: Prevention, Intervention, and Postvention in Schools. Watch the webinar recording.

The SafeSchools Online Training System includes a variety of expert-authored courses dedicated to helping your staff and students prevent incidents of suicide, including:

Student Mental Health (Employee course)
Youth Suicide: Awareness, Prevention & Postvention (Employee course)
Youth Suicide Risk (Student course)

We also offer our SafeSchools Alert Tip Reporting System that allows students, staff, and parents to confidentially report safety concerns, including concerns about the health and well-being of peers, to your administration 24/7/365 via mobile app, text, phone, email, and website.

Click here to read our blog post on suicide awareness and prevention tips.

For more information on how SafeSchools can help your school or district with its suicide prevention efforts, contact us at 1-800-434-0154 or request a free trial today!