"Lessons Learned" is a series of publications that are a brief recounting of actual school emergencies and crises. This "Lessons Learned" issue addresses the experience of a school district where three middle school students hung themselves within a three-week timeframe. Although deaths were apparently unconnected, the school district is part of a…

This document provides material useful to counseling center personnel on the topic of suicidal behaviors among college students. These items are included: (1) a list of seven signs which college personnel need to look for when evaluating suicidal risk in the college student; (2) an outline of prevention, intervention, and postvention topics to be…

This monograph concerns the the issue of adolescent suicide and discusses counseling and intervention techniques to prevent suicide among teenagers. Fourteen myths and misconceptions about suicide are explained. A profile of a potential suicide attempter is presented, and issues of behavioral indications, verbal cues, motivations and cognitive…

Summarizes major research findings on adolescent suicide, presents a suicide chronology developed by Hawton (1986), and provides a selected list of references. Discusses five goals for counselor intervention with students at risk for suicide and explains how school personnel can work to prevent adolescent suicide. (NB)

Discusses three major concerns related to crisis situations in the school: policy development, creating an awareness of the problem, and staff training. Presents framework to assist school districts in planning appropriate interventions for at-risk students. Includes discussion of legal concerns and issues related to self-destructive behavior. (NB)

Describes a Pennsylvania school's successful group counseling program developed to help students cope with divorce in their families. (MD)

Project CARE was developed by the West Shores School District (Lemoyne, Pennsylvania) to provide supportive services for at-risk students. It provides programs to address issues of child abuse, family crises, suicide, and student abduction. MD)

This guide lists information and resources concerning school interventions to prevent youth suicide. Part 1 includes articles related to youth suicide, depression, and violence, along with a listing of basic facts, statistics, and myths about suicide. A general model of youth suicide is included followed by information on prevention. Part 2…

The purpose of this paper is twofold: it reviews current national research on adolescent suicide and successful intervention/prevention programs and it surveys the 17 Nevada school districts to determine the presence of successful suicide intervention/prevention programs in the state. Findings include the following: (1) the popular…

Intended for use as part of an inservice program, this guide was designed to provide insight into adolescent suicide and to serve as a reference tool. It begins with an overview of suicide, citing society's desensitization to death, rapid changes in society, success codes, and the disappearance of the extended family as factors in the increase of…

This document presents guidelines for school staff to use in responding to an adolescent suicide. It gives statistics on teenage suicides and suicide attempts and examines characteristics of high-risk adolescents. Behavior patterns associated with adolescent suicide are described, paying close attention to the patterns of depression, substance…

This manual was written to help schools address the problem of youth suicide. The introduction presents a teenager's and a parent's perspective of youth suicide, discusses the problem of youth suicide, and develops a hypothesis of why the problem exists. Section 1 describes the contributing factors involved with adolescent suicide and provides…

Discusses the involvement of school psychologists in dealing with youth suicide. Discusses primary, secondary, and tertiary prevention techniques and working with the aftermath of a suicide attempt. Argues for differential services and attention for alternative education students, gay and lesbian youth, certain ethnic minority youth, and…

Evaluation strategies for focused educational programs in suicide prevention are explored. Additionally, a broad, systematic approach is called for that increases student participation; such an approach appears to have been effective with a variety of youth deviant behavior. A combination of these broad and narrow foci may be necessary to address…

The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) estimates that for every high school of 2,000 or more students in the United States, there is at least one successful suicide and thirty to fifty attempts each year. This report offers one state's examination of suicide and presents some effective responses to this problem. Discussed are those…