Preventing suicide not easy

How do you intervene to prevent someone from committing suicide on campus? According to Educational Wellness Consultants Mary Schoenfeldt and Kathleen Snyder Rico, prevention should start long before that question ever arises. “The problem is some warning signs are extremely easy to spot but others are very difficult to pick up on,” Schoenfeldt said.

Schoenfeldt and Rico recently presented a two-day suicide intervention workshop at the county office for school staff and community agency providers. They have traveled the state and nation conducting seminars dealing with crisis intervention a combined 39 years. Alarming youth related suicide statistics validate the need for their services.

“Suicide is the third leading cause of death among young people in the United States,” Rico told participants. “In the last 10 years, suicide has increased 120 percent in children ages 10-14. Teen suicide involving those between the ages of 10-21 rose 300 percent from the decade of the 60s to the that of the 90s.”

AmeriCorps Member Martha Planiz took the course because part of her job is tutoring at-risk high school students. “I had a friend who committed suicide,” Planiz said. “There were no warning signs. It was a shock.”

“Picking up clues is not as easy as observing a look or a walk,” Schoenfeldt said. “We are training people to look for changes in normal patterns. Is there a sudden drop in scholastic or athletic success? Why does a student with a prize CD collection start giving it away? Why is a popular, outgoing student avoiding friends and events?”

Outward depression may not even be evident in someone contemplating suicide, according to Schoenfeldt and Rico. They say when a person suffering from depression appears to have weathered the crisis, that is often when they commit suicide. “Their pretense of confidence or tranquility may actually mean they have made their decision or finally have the energy to carry out the suicide,” Rico said.

Several members of local law enforcement attended the workshop. Laura Lopez, senior deputy with the Kern County Sheriff Crisis Negotiation Team, said her team has been called out 97 times this year to incidents brought on by depression. “One valuable tool I got out of the workshop was a risk assessment formula to use in the field,” Lopez said. “It allows me to quickly assess whether the risk is high, low or moderate.”

“It’s what we call CPR which stands for Current suicidal plan, Prior suicidal behavior, and Resources” Shoenfeldt said. “Here’s how it works. You can intervene to prevent suicides if you know what their plan is, have evidence of behavior suggesting a suicide is possible supplied by family, friends, etc., and know the resources that may keep them from carrying it out such as a pet, sport, career goal, relative and so on.”

The first day of training was spent on learning intervention techniques and the second on role playing to test the theories in mock real life crisis situations.

Rico is very personally attached to the training. Her husband took his own life 14 years ago, prompting her entry into the field of suicide prevention. She had seen the warning signs.

“I am real passionate about wanting children and parents to know there is hope,” Rico said. “Always tell them to give it another hour, another day and get them some help.”
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