Schools, providers increase focus on youth suicide prevention and intervention

Mar. 24—The grief rooms appear quickly on campus.

After the death of a student or employee at Santa Fe Public Schools, a district wellness team and mental health professionals from local nonprofits descend on an affected school, equipped with art supplies and open ears, to offer support.

"Many of us might be strangers to them, but we're just a community trying to be there for them," said Marisol Peña, a therapist and associate director of the New Mexico Suicide Intervention Project, commonly known as The Sky Center.

The death of a student who attended Mandela International Magnet School prompted a three-day grief response in February. Superintendent Hilario "Larry" Chavez confirmed the student, 14, died by suicide.

Another day that same week, two Santa Fe High School students, ages 15 and 17, threatened self-harm on campus. Santa Fe police and emergency medical personnel responded to the incidents, which police and district officials said were unrelated.

Teachers had intervened in both cases, and each student was taken to a local hospital for treatment, officials said.

In a message notifying parents about "two separate crisis events that required medical attention," the district said counseling services would be available to students.

The message also encouraged parents and guardians of students who needed further support to reach out to The Sky Center or Gerard's House, a grief support organization that also offers youth suicide intervention services.

"This isn't going to be something that, when the school year ends, it's over with," Chavez said of the district's response to the series of incidents. "I think it will be ongoing."

The incidents have underscored a need for heightened behavioral health support for teens, both in schools and throughout the community.

Growing network of care

"We're a village, and so all of us have to work together," said Ziarra Kirksey, manager of the new Santa Fe Teen Center, a 17,000 square-foot facility that opened in September on the city's south side. Behavioral health has been a focus of the center, including suicide prevention efforts, Kirksey said.

The center is building connections with Santa Fe Public Schools as well as Gerard's House, The Sky Center and other community organizations to create a network to identify and aid teens in crisis.

The school district, meanwhile, has formed a new partnership with Care Solace, a national organization that helps students and families access mental health and substance abuse support services.

Gerard's House and The Sky Center hold weekly support and skills-building groups in the schools, and The Sky Center's Natural Helpers program trains middle-schoolers to identify warning signs and assist peers in seeking help.

Franci Crepeau-Hobson, director of clinical training for the University of Colorado Denver's school psychology program and chair of the National Association of School Psychologists'School Safety and Crisis Response Committee, noted it's everyone's responsibility to engage in suicide prevention.

Students, teachers, counselors and community members all play a role by listening and taking threats of suicide or self-harm seriously, she said: "If we don't do it together, we're not going to be very successful."

'A really complex problem'

Nearly 1 in 10 Santa Fe County youths who participated in the 2021 New Mexico Youth Risk and Resiliency Survey reported they had attempted suicide, a figure higher than the national average of 7.4%.

New Mexico, like much of the Mountain West, has suicide rates that far outpace national averages. The state's overall suicide rate in 2021, the most recent figure available, was ranked fourth in the nation with 533 deaths, according to data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. There were 85 suicide deaths among residents ages 10 to 24 that year, down from a peak of 99 in 2017.

Suicide rates have been trending upward for the age group since 2000.

There's no simple reason why youth harm themselves, Crepeau-Hobson said.

There are risk factors — things that increase the likelihood of suicide, such as existing mental health issues, family dysfunction and access to lethal means. Data shows rates are highest in the U.S. among Native Americans, followed by whites. Some research has found youth in LGBTQ+ communities are more than four times more likely to attempt suicide than their straight, cisgender peers.

But, Crepeau-Hobson said, "it's a really complex problem, so it's never one thing."

Neither the isolation caused by the COVID-19 pandemic nor increasingly hostile discourse in a divided nation has helped matters.

"There's so much hate and so much division, and that's hard and scary for kids," Crepeau-Hobson said. "It's like, 'Wow, adults can't get their stuff together. How can we count on them to take care of us?' "

Jenn Jevertson, assistant director of Santa Fe Public Schools' Office of Student Wellness, echoed this perspective.

Many factors — from barriers to accessing mental health care to rising food and housing costs to increasing rates of anxiety and depression among youth — create growing strain for teenagers, she said.

Sometimes, it results in self-harm or suicide.

"Why now? What's going on?" Jevertson said. "We know that our kids have been struggling for a while; they were struggling before the pandemic."

Teens are also uniquely susceptible to what researchers call "suicide contagion," or the increased risk of suicidal thoughts and behaviors after a nearby suicide.

"Your run-of-the-mill kid ... they're going to be OK" after a suicide occurs in their school or community, Crepeau-Hobson said, "but the kids who are already not OK are going to be less OK."

A solid 'postvention' plan

A speedy and sincere response to a youth suicide is essential in limiting harmful repercussions, Crepeau-Hobson said.

"The worst thing we can do after a suicide is pretend like there wasn't a suicide because that contributes to the stigma and it doesn't allow us to identify other kids who might be struggling," said, adding, "There really needs to be a very solid 'postvention' plan in place so that schools aren't scrambling when it does happen."

A large part of postvention at Santa Fe Public Schools is the grief room — a place to talk to staff from The Sky Center or Gerard's House, to do self-regulation activities, to reflect on feelings.

Peña said the room offers space for crying, for coloring and constructing tissue paper flowers, for writing sympathy cards or talking to trusted adults.

The Sky Center's providers are trained to pay attention to risk factors, said Apryl Miller, the organization's executive director.

Crucially, she added, the providers will ask tough questions: Are you thinking about hurting yourself? Have you tried to harm yourself? Have you thought about killing yourself?

She encourages these frank questions, Miller said, because talking about suicide does not increase the risk of suicide. "We know from years and years of experience that if you can name it, you can tame it; that suicide is more dangerous when it's kept a secret."

When providers see indications of suicidal behavior, schools enact their suicide protocol, when a group of responders — which could include counselors, nurses, social workers, principals or administrative wellness staff — conduct a suicide risk assessment, Jevertson said.

If a student is at a moderate or high risk of suicide, she added, the district connects them with options for a clinical assessment and coordinates with the student's parents.

Maggie Boyle, associate director of Gerard's House, said she always appreciates when students seek help. It's a hard thing to do.

"When we do needs assessments and there's disclosures of suicide or self-harm, it's really helpful to slow way down and, just for a moment, recognize and feel grateful for the fact that this young person feels safe enough with you to be able to share that that's what they're going through," she said.

"It's a really good thing that now there's at least two of you who know what's going on."

Assistant city editor Nathan Brown contributed to this report.

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