Charlie’s Sophomore Year Summary - Seven Months in Length.
Our Charlie was rendered uniquely vulnerable to bullying by a series of traumatic events that befell him that Sophomore year – being exposed to the searing details of a classmate’s father who had hanged himself, the trauma of a perceived school shooting threat on campus, a serious concussion, ongoing medical issues effecting attendance and significant weight loss, to name some. Landon did not have in place a prevention, intervention and postvention program in place for suicide risks. We, as parents, did not know the suicide risk factors. We want to make sure you do.
According to the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, significant risk factors for suicide include depression, anxiety, exposure to stressful life events, prolonged stress, harassment, bullying, rejection, life transitions and exposure to another person’s suicide. See “Risk factors, protective factors, and warning signs” at https://afsp.org/risk-factors-protective- factors-and-warning-signs/.
Suicide - Know the Risks
On July 24, 2018, the State Board of Education (MD) granted permission to adopt the original regulation, COMAR 13A.07.11 Student Suicide Prevention and Safety Training, which required each Local School System (LSS) to provide annual training to all certificated school staff to:
(1) understand and respond to youth suicide risk; (2) understand and respond to student mental health, student trauma, student safety and other topics related to student social and emotional well-being; and (3) identify professional resources to help students in crisis. The proposed update incorporates the additional requirements of Education Article Section 6-122 regarding behavioral health, trauma and violence out of schools, community schools, and changes in wording under Section 13A.07.11.03(2).