This is the third and final report in our September series highlighting National Suicide Prevention Month.

“Suicide represents an opportunity lost.”

That concept is what helped drive Newtown’s Prevention Council co-chair and the local school district’s Recovery Project Director Judy Blanchard, MS, CPP, to support transforming what was once a blip on the district’s health class agenda into a comprehensive aspect of today’s curriculum for all seventh grade students, as well as high school freshmen and juniors.

And she hopes, much like information about proper nutrition, exercise, smoking and substance abuse being shared and taught in local schools, that students will take their knowledge home — and possibly apply it toward preventing a suicide long before it has the potential to happen.

The program she is referring to, is called “Signs Of Suicide” or SOS.

Superintendent of Schools Joseph V. Erardi, Jr supports introducing the subject of suicide early on, along with collateral information on depression and other possible touch points for suicidal thoughts.

“I am respectful, and I understand the sensitivity to exposing middle school youngsters to information pertaining to suicide awareness,” Dr Erardi said. “However, when I weigh all aspects of the program, I continue to strongly believe that if we are able to prevent one student from harm, SOS is an invaluable program.”

According to Ms Blanchard, the SOS Program is a proven, research-based early intervention program listed on the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s (SAMHSA) National Registry of Evidenced-Based Programs and Best Practices.

“The program is a school-based intervention that includes education and screening,” she explained during an interview September 22 with The Newtown Bee. “Students in 7th, 9th and 11th grade receive the lesson in a guided classroom discussion on depression and the advantages of early intervention. “

Not only do students learn the early warning signs for depression, they also are asked to complete a depression screening form.

“They have an opportunity to refer themselves or a friend they may be concerned about by requesting to speak with a school counselor or a mental health professional,” Ms Blanchard said. 

Students also view a video that teaches them to recognize the signs of depression and complete a depression screening.

“They are taught that the appropriate response to the signs are to acknowledge them, let the person know (they) care, and tell a responsible adult,” she continued. “The ‘ACT’ acronym – acknowledge, care, tell — is introduced and reinforced many times throughout the intervention.”

Implementing SOS

The SOS Program was first implemented among all high and middle school students in Newtown during the 2013-14 school year, with only a few students’ parents opting out of the class, she said.

Counseling staff were concurrently trained and coached in the delivery of the program and referral protocols, and each class is co-led by the teacher and a mental health professional.

In addition, teachers and parents are offered educational forums to learn about the signs and symptoms of depression and how to intervene. That intervention is proven to:

*Increase knowledge about depression;

*Prevent suicide attempts;

*Increase self-help seeking behaviors;

*Reduce stigma associated with mental health problems; and

*Increase help seeking behaviors on behalf of others.

Prior to the introduction of SOS, Ms Blanchard said suicide education may have taken up one or just part of a single health class, although it has been a deeper element of the health curriculum for more than the 15 years Ms Blanchard has been working in the district.

“It was never a set or focused initiative,” she said. “But we knew post-12/14 that we would be seeing increased substance abuse, family management issues, depression and suicides all increasing. So we looked at different programs and settled on SOS, which we found to be widely used and delivering the strongest evidenced-based results.”

More Conversation Needed

Before SOS, health teachers were being approached occasionally by students with their own suicidal thoughts, or those fearing for a friend or family member.

“But those conversations weren’t happening to the extent we needed them,” she said.

The first year of implementation across the entire middle and high school student body turned up a number of potential issues that was somewhat staggering.

In year one of SOS, 1,114 high school students completed screening, with almost one in ten (96) triggering some level of follow-up.

At the more literal-minded middle school level, 127 of the 737 students screened indicated a need for intervention of some degree.

“It’s important to know that because students at the middle school level are so literal in their responses, that they tend to track higher. That said, we still wanted to be sure every student who needed it, received follow-up,” Ms Blanchard said. “As a result, some required no further support, while others received, and may still be receiving support today.”

Ultimately, those numbers dropped significantly in the two years since SOS was introduced, to the handful of students being identified when suicide was just a small element of health education.

“But the real importance of the SOS curriculum is not just to benefit students,” Ms Blanchard said. “And it isn’t just about suicide.”

She said SOS has been very successful in educating students and by extension, local families, about recognizing the collateral conditions that can eventually prompt suicide attempts if left untreated.

“This is a conversation that some are not comfortable having,” Ms Blanchard said. “So we’ve been able to introduce a way, through dialog, of differentiating between students and children who say they want to hurt themselves versus wanting to kill themselves.

“I’m so happy the community is learning about this because every suicide is preventable,” she added. “But you have to be direct in addressing the concern. Thanks to our SOS curriculum, our district is now playing a bigger role in both education and prevention.”