As awareness grows about the alarming increase in youth suicide rates, school leaders need information on suicide prevention and postvention. Tragically, the search often begins only after the school community has suffered the loss of a student. Schools must start to be proactive and educate themselves about risk factors and prevention strategies. Designed as a handbook for busy educators, A Culture of Caring: A Suicide Prevention Guide for Schools (K—12) includes information about prevention, intervention, and postvention along with commentary from experts in the field. Each chapter stands alone and does not have to be read in sequence. Resources and descriptions of programs relevant to each chapter are organized by topic. School leaders, counselors, and teachers can use the information to create their own plans or just glance through it to get ideas. With this book, any school community that takes suicide prevention seriously will have access the knowledge, tools and resources to save lives.

Suicide in Schools provides school-based professionals with practical, easy-to-use guidance on developing and implementing effective suicide prevention, assessment, intervention and postvention strategies. Utilizing a multi-level systems approach, this book includes step-by-step guidelines for developing crisis teams and prevention programs, assessing and intervening with suicidal youth, and working with families and community organizations during and after a suicidal crisis. The authors include detailed case examples, innovative approaches for professional practice, usable handouts, and internet resources on the best practice approaches to effectively work with youth who are experiencing a suicidal crisis as well as those students, families, school staff, and community members who have suffered the loss of a loved one to suicide. Readers will come away from this book with clear, step-by-step guidelines on how to work proactively with school personnel and community professionals, think about suicide prevention from a three-tiered systems approach, how to identify those who might be at risk, and how to support survivors after a traumatic event--all in a practical, user-friendly format geared especially for the needs of school-based professionals.

A comprehensive, school-based crisis intervention program can do a great deal to prevent teenage suicide, and to help the school community survive if a tragedy cannot be averted. In this important book, Scott Poland, who has written and lectured extensively on the topic, provides professionals with practical, step-by-step guidelines for setting up and maintaining such a program. Including numerous illustrative case examples, the book emphasizes the role played by all school personnel in suicide intervention and prevention. It is an invaluable resource for school psychologists, counselors, teachers, and administrators.

Argues that schools have a much larger role to play in the prevention of suicide among children and adolescents than they have generally undertaken hitherto. Sets out various ways in which teachers can detect suicidal tendencies and make appropriate interventions.

Every year, about 30,000 people die by suicide in the U.S., and some 650,000 receive emergency treatment after a suicide attempt. Often, those most at risk are the least able to access professional help. Reducing Suicide provides a blueprint for addressing this tragic and costly problem: how we can build an appropriate infrastructure, conduct needed research, and improve our ability to recognize suicide risk and effectively intervene. Rich in data, the book also strikes an intensely personal chord, featuring compelling quotes about people's experience with suicide. The book explores the factors that raise a person's risk of suicide: psychological and biological factors including substance abuse, the link between childhood trauma and later suicide, and the impact of family life, economic status, religion, and other social and cultural conditions. The authors review the effectiveness of existing interventions, including mental health practitioners' ability to assess suicide risk among patients. They present lessons learned from the Air Force suicide prevention program and other prevention initiatives. And they identify barriers to effective research and treatment. This new volume will be of special interest to policy makers, administrators, researchers, practitioners, and journalists working in the field of mental health.

Suicide in Schools provides school-based professionals with practical, easy-to-use guidance on developing and implementing effective suicide prevention, assessment, intervention and postvention strategies. Utilizing a multi-level systems approach, this book includes step-by-step guidelines for developing crisis teams and prevention programs, assessing and intervening with suicidal youth, and working with families and community organizations during and after a suicidal crisis. The authors include detailed case examples, innovative approaches for professional practice, usable handouts, and internet resources on the best practice approaches to effectively work with youth who are experiencing a suicidal crisis as well as those students, families, school staff, and community members who have suffered the loss of a loved one to suicide. Readers will come away from this book with clear, step-by-step guidelines on how to work proactively with school personnel and community professionals, think about suicide prevention from a three-tiered systems approach, how to identify those who might be at risk, and how to support survivors after a traumatic event--all in a practical, user-friendly format geared especially for the needs of school-based professionals.

Suicide is the second leading cause of death among adolescents. Between 1981 and 1989, 7% of all those who suicide were children and adolescents aged five to 19 and during that time 16,585 adolescents between the ages of 15 and 19 committed suicide. Written for counselors and middle and high school personnel, this book examines the dynamics of suicide and includes guidelines for early detection of suicidal preoccupation, prevention, and crisis management. Guidelines in this book were developed using the assumptions that personnel working with young people: (1) need information that helps them identify the individuals most at risk for suicide; (2) need to understand the myths and causal factors connected with adolescent suicide; (3) need to be able to recognize the "profile" that identifies individuals most at risk for suicide; and (4) need to be able to use effective techniques to assess and refer suicidal adolescents. Chapters are: (1) Suicide Prevention in the Schools: An Introduction; (2) Suicide Prevention: Getting Started in Your Building or School District; (3) Suicide Prevention: What Faculty and Staff Need to Know; (4) Preparation of Crisis Teams; (5) Individual and Group Counseling Options; (6) Parent Education; (7) Classroom Presentations; and (8) Legal Aspects of Adolescent Suicide Prevention. Most chapters include overhead masters. Contains 118 references. (JBJ)