Student Suicide Signs

Some signs that a student may be suicidal are verbal as well as behavior related. When a student starts using words such as I wish I were dead, I am going to kill myself, or nobody needs me. These are just a small amount of verbal cues that you might hear if a student is thinking about suicide. Behavior plays a bigger role than verbal cues. When you have a student suddenly become angry, depressed, and detached these might be signs of a student who may be or is thinking of suicide. Look for students who may have attempted suicide before, alcohol and drug abuse, mood swings, or even doing poor in school. Situational signs will hit the individual the hardest. This can be anything from a breakup, to a loss of a job, moving to a new city, fights with peers or parents. These signs are mainly found at home. When you see a student who fits the criteria, make sure you let someone know. As a teacher, it is your job to protect the students even from themselves.

2. Go to pp. 319 in the textbook. Select two of the suicide prevention strategies and describe in detail how you would incorporate them into a lesson/discussion on

suicide prevention.
The strategy that I picked is school base suicide awareness curricula.

This is for a couple of reasons, first to show students that it happens more than they might think, students who are thinking about suicide might change their mind or get help. Lastly, you might be gone but the pain that your friends and family will feel. I would incorporate this into its own week or longer if needed. I feel it is important enough where we need to take that much time out of our normal lessons. It would be first talking about what suicide is and why people might do it. After that, I would show signs of a person who might be suicidal. I would stress even if they are your friend tell someone do not keep it to yourself. I would do activities such as Who Am I activity. They can be done in class or a video that has them giving advice to why it is important to keep

trying.
The second strategy I would use is crisis centers and hotlines. This would be in one of the lessons that would be in the school based suicide awareness curricula. This is important because when a person is thinking of committing suicide they feel like they have no way out and they are always alone. Most do not want to die so they will call someone or make hints that it is their last day. Therefore, if you have them know and even hand out cards with the hotline information it can save a life. I would devote a day to this part of the lesson plan. I would explain where to receive help, and make sure they do not feel like they are alone.