During the week of Oct. 6 to Oct. 10, the counseling department hosted the annual Signs of Suicide (SOS) presentation during English classes.
SOS lessons are presented at the beginning of each school year. The Maryland State Department of Education requires that every Local Education Agency (LEA), such as MCPS and other school districts in the state, have some type of suicide prevention program presented to middle and high school students. MCPS, in particular, selected the SOS curriculum from the MindWise Innovations company.
MindWise Innovations’ SOS lesson consists of youth suicide prevention basics that teach students about the warning signs of suicide and how to assist others who may dealing with suicidal ideation through the “ACT” acronym (Acknowledge, Care and Tell). Other educational resources such as videos, activities and hotlines were also included in the presentation.
Resource Counselor Maureen Ponce supervises the counseling department and program at this school, and was responsible for scheduling SOS lessons for all the English classes. “We originally planned to implement them in November, but Dr. Bostic felt that given the topic, he really wanted us to address it earlier. So, each day was implemented to one grade. We are also going to be determining how to do makeup presentations depending on the rosters and lists, because it’s a really important [topic],” Ponce said.
According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), “20% of high schoolers report serious thoughts about suicide and 9% report a suicide attempt,” and suicide is considered “the second-leading cause of death among youth ages 10-14 in the U.S. and the third leading cause among young people ages 15-24.”
These statistics emphasize the importance of being open about mental health and straying away from the stigma of the subject. “I know when we talk about the word ‘suicide,’ people become nervous and afraid to say it because they think that if they say the word, they’ll put the idea into someone’s head. That’s a myth, but normalizing conversations about mental health and specifically in the area of suicide will help us address the problem. The reality is that people struggle. There are so many layers to understanding mental health because people show up holistically. We showed up [at school] today, but my mental health didn’t stay at the door,” Ponce said.
Tabitha Davis is a secretary in the main office, this year marking her first at this school. As someone who constantly sees students coming and going, Davis agrees with Ponce. “Our kids are very vulnerable. You never know what their story is, when they’re at home or anywhere outside of the school. Hopefully, the benefits of [SOS lessons] will be that kids understand that there is always a place to turn to and that there is always someone that they can talk to,” Davis said.
In addition to SOS lessons, the counseling department has also hosted tables with bracelets, pamphlets and stickers at the front of the school for mental health awareness topics. In early September, the department had a table for National Suicide Prevention Week and just recently this week, Red Ribbon Week.
Through these initiatives and awareness projects, the department hopes to encourage students to be open about mental health, be proactive in helping themselves or others and know that help is always available. “We try to be a community of help, regardless of whatever situation it might be, big or small. I love working in this school system and with kids. I just feel that it is very important that we pay attention to our children because they need us,” Davis said.
