Forum helps parents address student suicide

To better equip parents in the fight against suicide in children and teens, mental health staff from West Seneca Central held a public forum at West Middle School Tuesday night, providing resources and strategies to the community.

Highlighting the issue's urgency, Eric Meslinsky, a school counselor at West Senior High School, noted that for the past seven years, suicide has been the third leading cause of death among children ages 10 to 14 and the second among people aged 15 to 34.

These trends, he said, are preventable through increased awareness and treatment, in knowing about available resources, and in knowing students and being able to spot warning signs.

"Sometimes that is negative behavior, sometimes that's atypical positive behavior," Meslinsky said. "But to know our students, to keep communication open, and to know when to ask questions and what to be aware of, I think that that is a very important point."

According to Tina Schoepflin, a social worker at Clinton Elementary, those warning signs - which include investigating ways to commit suicide, isolation from friends and family, and writing about suicide on social media - should be signals for parents to act.

"It's a red flag," she said. "You're needing to seek some sort of attention, medical attention, help from support staff."

Lisa Caprio, a social worker at West Elementary, said the best thing parents can do for children struggling with suicide is to be there for them and ask questions, two of five steps recommended by the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline. She said the other three steps are to keep them safe, help them connect, and follow up.

Caprio said steps such as asking specific questions about suicide plans, which parents should do along with mental health professionals in the district, are crucial to determining how serious a child is about ending his or her life.

Often the outcome of questioning is the discovery that a child hasn't thought things through, but if the child is serious, Caprio said parents need to decide whether to contact crisis services or dial 911, take protective measures such as removing firearms from the house, or connect their child with round-the-clock resources such as the Spectrum Crisis And Re-Stabilization Emergency Services team.

"Once you know the answers to some of the questions, then you can determine just how imminent the threat is," she said.

Other resources mentioned during the forum presentation included the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, https://suicidepreventionlifeline.org/; the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, https://afsp.org/; the parent section of Teenline, https://teenlineonline.org/parents/suicide/; #BETHE1TO, http://www.bethe1to.com /bethe1to-steps-evidence/; and the Crisis Text Line, a round-the-clock service that can be reached by texting "HOME" to 741741.

Those attending the forum were grateful for the additional information and wanted to help students get the help they need to prevent suicide.

Parent Crystal Richardville, whose daughters attend West Middle and Winchester Elementary, said the information presented during the forum gave her a better sense of the magnitude of the problem of suicide among students.

"I knew it was an issue, but I didn't realize how big of an issue it has become," she said. "You always think, 'It's not going to happen to me,' but this kind of put into perspective that it very well could."

She said it's important that students understand how to treat their peers from an early age and know that there are a wealth of options available to help them when they are struggling with suicide.

"Not that we want to plant it in their heads, but we want to give the kids the ability to know that they have somewhere to turn," she said.

Also attending the presentation was Joe Smajdor, who singled out cyberbullying as a significant cause of suicide, which he intends to fight through a foundation he recently established. Smajdor said the foundation will fund programs in the Kenmore Town of Tonawanda School District aimed at raising the self-esteem of students and rewarding students who speak out when they see bullying happen.

"Because our culture is changing, everyone's on their phones and there's no interaction face-to-face anymore. That's why a lot of these kids are depressed," he said. "A lot of kids are using the internet and their phones for negative thoughts, and a lot of these kids who have some mental issues or autism, who take it literally, are the ones that are committing suicide. We have to make a difference, we have to make a change, because the culture is terrible."

To find contact information for social workers, counselors and psychologists involved in Tuesday's forum or on staff at West Seneca Central schools, visit the district's website at www.wscschools.org/.

email: arizzo@beenews.com