To: Phil Murphy

From: Talia Bardash

Date: January 20, 2020

Re: Increasing education programs for school staff and educators regarding adolescent suicide.

Statement of Issue:  From the years 2007 to 2017 the suicide rate of children in the United States, aged 10-14, nearly tripled. For middle and high school kids suicide has become the second leading cause of death.[1] Today children are faced with higher levels of bullying via social media, which all can contribute to a child’s thoughts of suicide. The lack of staff that are properly educated to deal with children who have suicidal thoughts makes school a dangerous environment for the students. There needs to be proper faculty and educators who can discuss and see signs from the students.

• Lack of staff that are educated and skilled to understand signs of mental illness. The American School Counselor Association recommends that to every one counselor there should be 250 students. However, the average is that there is one counselor to every 444. For every one social worker, the School Social Work Association of America recommends that they should be provided 250 students. However, the average is closer to 2.106 students given to one social worker. There is currently no state that is meeting the standard resulting in children who are not getting the proper attention. For every 500-700 students the National Association of School Psychologists recommends one psychologist. However, the average is closer to 1,526 students for every one psychologist. There are currently close to 19 million students that are attending a school that does not have a psychologist on staff.[2]
• The associated stigma of suicide prevents educators from wanting to discuss the issue with students. Nearly 29.4% of staff did not understand the need to implement extra education in schools about suicide and 5.9% of educators felt that they would be to uncomfortable to discuss suicide with a student.[3]
• There is a correlation between suicide and cyberbullying. 95% of people, 13-17 years old, have a smartphone. 25% of adolescents and teens are subject to bullying over the internet or phone.[4] Victims of cyberbullying are twice as likely to try and comment suicide.[5]
• There is not enough education being provided to staff. There are only ten states that have a state mandate to have their teachers trained annually in suicide and suicide prevention. Fifteen states just encourage training but don’t enforce a necessity.[6]

 Policy Options

• A federal mandate for annualized suicide education and prevention for educators and staff would ensure that they were aware of the signs of suicide contemplation in their students.
  • Advantages:  This ensures that all staff members are up-to-date on signs and associated risks that may lead to suicide. The constant education will allow the teachers to destigmatize their views on suicide and will hopefully help to have them be well-versed in which students are struggling. It will benefit the students if there are staff members that are constantly looking out for them and are aware of the causes of suicide that may change from year to year. Creating the most protective and sensitive environment for the students can help to decrease suicide attempts.[7]
  • Disadvantages:  The annual education would lead to an increase in budget needed to help educate staff members on education. The Mental Health First Aid public education program, which educates teachers and school staff about how to respond when seeing signs of mental illness, requested 21.963 million dollars for the fiscal year, which is 1 million dollars above the fiscal year of 2019. This rise is not paying for each state to have education programs in each school. If so that means there would be a dramatic rise in budget.[8]
• A federal mandate stating that educators must be involved in certified training in order to receive their initial certificate as an educator or staff member in a school.
  • Advantages:  Less costly than annual education or the optional state mandate.  Provides staff and educators with a basic foundation of knowledge about suicide and prevention.
  • Disadvantages:  Does not provide students with staff and faculty that are knowledgeable and constantly updating their knowledge on the risks and signs of a child having suicidal thoughts that change with the times.  
• Optional state mandates, to have mandatory seminars multiple times throughout the year to discuss suicide and suicide prevention.
  • Advantages:  Less costly then the federal mandate. Allows the educators to stay up-to-date on the ways to approach suicide and mental health with their students. Allows each state to figure out how to address the issue that would be most beneficial to their state.
  • Disadvantages:  More expensive than the one-time training. States may opt to not have the seminars leaving their staff ill prepared to deal with suicide. The inconsistency can also lead to years where more seminars are offered and then years where potentially no seminars are offered.

Policy Recommendation:  With rising rates of suicide amongst the adolescent community, along with rising rates of cyberbullying, it is necessary to educate our staff and faculty on the signs of suicide. Cyberbullying occurs behind screens and students and adolescents may be hiding their suffering. It is important to implement a federal mandate to ensure that there is a yearly program to educate staff and faculty about suicide and suicide prevention. Even though this may be the most expensive option, it ensures that faculty and staff are better prepared to deal with signs of suicide presented from students. The most important thing is that students and adolescents have educators, staff and faculty that are looking out for them and mental health.

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[1] https://afsp.org/about-suicide/suicide-statistics/

[2] https://www.thenationalcouncil.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/090619_HillDay_FactSheet_FY2020Appropriations_v3.pdf

[3] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6617090/

[4] https://www.guardchild.com/cyber-bullying-statistics/

[5] https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/04/180419130923.htm

[6] http://afsp.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Suicide-Prevention-in-Schools-Issue-Brief.pdf

[7] https://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/pdf/suicideTechnicalPackage.pdf

[8] https://www.thenationalcouncil.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/090619_HillDay_FactSheet_FY2020Appropriations_v3.pdf