Mass. Panel Focuses on Surging Student Suicide Threat

Jan. 03--Bay State educators struggling with a surge of student suicides and attempts are getting help this winter as a panel set up in response to the Sandy Hook massacre spells out how to assist teens suffering from panic attacks, substance abuse, neighborhood violence, eating disorders and self-harm.

It's being called the first such report of its kind nationwide that's zeroing in on mental health fixes.

"No other state in the country is doing this," said Susan Cole, director of the Trauma and Learning Policy Initiative, a joint program of Massachusetts Advocates for Children and Harvard Law School. "It puts us on the cutting edge."

The Safe and Supportive Schools Commission -- a 19-member panel of education and mental health leaders -- has been drafting proposed steps for schools to take to improve access to behavioral health services and increase teacher training.

The commission was formed as part of the 2014 Act Relative to the Reduction of Gun Violence that sprang out of the 2012 mass school shooting in Newtown, Conn. The board's report is due out within weeks.

It comes amid a spike in students considering suicide -- 14.9 percent in Massachusetts, according to the state's 2015 Youth Risk Behavior Survey. Another 11.9 percent of students took the steps to make a plan to kill themselves, the report states.

Depression and suicide are only worsening in the Bay State, which saw 38 percent more students taking their lives in 2013 compared to a decade earlier, the most recent public health data show.

The problem is more dire for female students, statistics show; 8.2 percent attempted suicide over the past year and 14 percent made suicide plans, compared to 5.4 percent and 9.8 percent for males, respectively.

The goal is to have the new strategies available to schools during the next school year.

It comes as mental health experts say they are grappling with why so many teenagers -- 17 percent nationally -- attempt suicide.

"It is a huge issue all schools are wrestling with," said Dr. Melissa Pearrow, director of school psychology at University of Massachusetts Boston. "It is a significant problem. Schools are on the front lines to identify kids who need additional support."

One in five students has a diagnosable mental health condition, according to Nancy Parker, director of parent and school programs at the Massachusetts chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness. But 50 percent of 8- to 15-year-olds don't receive treatment.

There could be a variety of reasons why children today are feeling more depressed -- from family stress, trauma, bullying in the classroom or online to heightened pressure to do well on tests, school psychologists say.

In Boston, 12 percent of students seek counseling help, schools officials told the Herald. Twenty percent of children have also had at least one traumatic experience from neighborhood violence, sexual abuse, crime, poverty or domestic violence, according to a 2013 Boston Children's Hospital study.

"In Boston, we know a large number of kids have had exposure to trauma -- violence, poverty. These are all risk factors," Pearrow said. "It is so layered ... they are inundated with information all the time. Their brains don't get to rest. And there are all the pressures of adolescence. It is 10 times worse compared to what it used to be for kids."

As students struggle with depression and anxiety, schools are often unprepared to meet the need, with many lacking enough psychologists and trained teachers, mental health experts and teachers say.

The National Association of School Psychologists recommends one psychologist for every 500 to 700 students. But often, experts say, schools fall short of the number of school psychologists they need to support the student population.

Boston Public Schools has 55 school psychologists who support 125 schools and 57,000 students, said Andria Amador, assistant director of behavioral health services. School psychologists are, on average, assigned to two or three schools.

"I think support services are often negatively impacted by budgets," said Angela Cristiani, a school psychologist who has worked in the Boston schools. "There is such a need for prevention within each school ... Consistency of people in the building is important."

Often, mental health gets short shrift compared to the core testing subjects like math, science and English, experts said.

"Teachers don't get a lot of education around social emotional development," said Dr. William Sharp, a psychoanalyst and professor at Northeastern University who worked in BPS. "Districts push learning of reading, writing and math so much, there is no room for social and emotional learning."

Boston school leaders, however, defended their behavioral health work, arguing students' mental health has become a priority under Superintendent Tommy Chang, who created the Office of Social Emotional Learning and Wellness in recognition that many young people can't succeed in the classroom if they are battling trauma, depression and anxiety.

"Our biggest effort is focused on making sure we work as a coordinated support team with BPS," said Deputy Superintendent Karla Estrada.

By the end of the school year, Estrada said the district will begin testing data used to figure out which schools and neighborhoods have the greatest needs and where resources should be deployed.

Doing Harm

High schoolers across the country continue to struggle with depression and suicide. Here's a look at the frequency of suicide attempts and suicidal thoughts, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention:

• 8.6 percent of students have attempted suicide one or more times -- more girls than boys;
• 14.6 percent of students nationwide have made a suicide plan -- again, more girls than boys;
• 23.4 percent of female students have seriously considered suicide while 12.2 percent of male students have. 

—Source: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services/Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance -- United States, 2015. Published June 10, 2016. The CDC data is for high school students, grades 9 to 12 (age 14-18).

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