An “A” for Empathy

As youth suicide rates rise across the nation, local school initiatives aim to bring the painful issue out of the dark

Written by ZACHARY HAYES

AS ANY PARENT would tell you, schools play a vital role not only in the day-to-day lives of our children but in preparing them for any number of issues life might throw their way. But now, a massive — and growing — burden is being placed on these institutions to care for children and families in crisis, particularly those dealing with the effects of our nation’s rising youth suicide rate. According to the most recent data from the Georgia Department of Public Health, Chatham County alone experienced the loss of seven kids and young adults between the ages of 10 and 24 to suicide in 2022, up from a single case just two decades prior in 2002. This tragic trend has child psychologists and education experts begging for schools to introduce newer, evidence-based solutions to prevent suicidal ideation before it takes root, and thankfully, Savannah-Chatham County schools have taken this challenge to heart.

OPEN AND HONEST

Across the country, suicide rates have steadily increased over the last couple decades to borderline epidemic levels. While this unfortunate reality has plagued people of all walks and ages, it has been particularly insidious in children and young adults, with suicide becoming the second-most common cause of death between the ages of 10 and 24, following accidents, according to the CDC. This age group saw 7,126 deaths to suicide in 2021 alone, a more than 50% increase since 2000 with few indicators suggesting a turnaround anytime soon. But while the reasons behind this increase remain largely speculative at this time, many schools are working to put effective preventative strategies in place to address suicidal ideation.

“When we think about what’s going to have the biggest impact, we have to start taking things out of the dark and exposing them to the light,” says Dr. Kristi Hofstadter-Duke, pediatric psychologist and director of Savannah Behavioral Pediatrics. “The more we hide something and don’t talk about it, the more likely it is that children are going to just find misinformation and come up with their own ideas that may be really detrimental. Even just opening the door to difficult conversations sets the stage for the type of relationship where a child is going to come and share with you what’s going on with them.”

Those kinds of open relationships with responsible adults are crucial in preventing suicidal ideation in children and young adults as they create a clear line of communication to someone who can then get them or their peers the help they need in times of crisis. Hofstadter-Duke also places emphasis on the importance of giving kids a game plan for getting help that they can use should such a situation arise.

“I actually had a conversation with my own children about suicide, probably just two months ago,” says Hofstadter-Duke. “I said, ‘Listen, people who die by suicide are in a lot of emotional pain. And so if you ever find yourself in pain, if you feel really sad, if you feel like something is really difficult, the first step is always to reach out to a trusted adult.’” She explains that when people are dealing with the heavy mental burdens that often lead to suicidal ideation, having a clear plan of action can be a pivotal guiding light in the darkness.

Of course, the nature of these kinds of conversations can look very different depending on the age of the child, but clarity is crucial across the board. “At a younger developmental level, we probably want to give a little less specific information, but be very concrete in our language,” says Hofstadter-Duke. For example, she says using clear language like “someone died” or “death” are almost always preferable to abstract phrases like “they went to a better place,” as these can be confusing for younger children. As kids reach school age and older, though, they typically begin to have a greater understanding of death and are capable of more in-depth discussions.

“You can give a little more information at that point,” says Hofstadter-Duke. “But try to keep it so that you’re saying things that are factual and being very open and nonjudgmental so that they’re free to tell you how they’re feeling. That will open the door for any additional conversations down the road that need to happen.”

A NEW SCHOOL OF THOUGHT

These preventative steps — fostering trusting relationships and forming a concrete plan — form the basis of the Savannah-Chatham County Public School System’s (SCCPSS) latest initiatives to tackle suicidal ideation in the district. In addition to some of the more traditional programs, such as connecting students and families in crisis with local mental health resources and deploying a crisis team when suicide strikes in the community, SCCPSS has tested two new pilot programs: Positive Peer Influencer and Handle With Care.

The Positive Peer Influencer program, a collaboration between SCCPSS, The Mediation Center of the Coastal Empire and the Chatham-Savannah Counter Narcotics Team, trains local high school students to serve as mentors for their younger peers in middle school, and while the program’s focus lies mainly in reducing potential drug use, the relationships built between these students have far-reaching benefits. And SCCPSS’s work with The Mediation Center doesn’t end there.

“We are bringing a lot of trauma-informed practices to our school district,” says Dr. Quentina Miller-Fields, director of student affairs for SCCPSS. “We are educating our teachers, our staff, our administrators, social workers and guidance counselors to be trauma-informed so that, when we do encounter a student, we will know how to appropriately address their issue.”

From there, Handle With Care, a collaboration with the Savannah Police Department, takes that trauma-responsive perspective to another level. Through this program, when a police officer encounters a child involved with a scene or incident to which they respond, they notify the school district of that student’s involvement through an app, allowing schools to provide the student with the additional support they may need much more efficiently.

“If little Johnny is acting out of character, prior to Handle with Care, it could have ended up with a suspension or write-up, because the teachers and the principals don’t know what’s going on,” says Miller-Fields. “But now, we know that something has happened. They’ve experienced some kind of traumatic event. Therefore, we’re going to be suited to handle that, and we’re going to try to provide support.”

COUNSELOR COMMUNITIES

While these programs were originally available in only a few select schools and cities in the county, administrators say that they are planning to expand them further in the coming months and years given the overwhelming community support and success they’ve seen so far. And while these new initiatives are beginning to flourish in the county’s public schools, an exciting development out of St. Andrew’s School is hoping to address this issue even further by bridging the gap between counselors in the area’s public and private schools.

Spearheaded by counselors David Nash and Elizabeth Bush, St. Andrew’s hosted the inaugural run of the Low Country School Counselor Conference earlier this year, bringing together 30 counselors from both public and private schools to meet and discuss the unique challenges of their work with peers with whom they may not have otherwise had the opportunity to connect with. Topics ranged from developing strategies for conversations with parents around social media usage to the importance of building character and relationships in developing and sustaining a positive culture.

“Our kids are connected,” says Anne Weisel, the lower school head at St. Andrew’s and former program manager for school counseling in SCCPSS. “Even if we don’t know the counselor over at that other high school or at that other middle school, our kids all know each other, and our kids are spending time together. We’re breaking down those barriers, and building connections and relationships, which uniquely support the students that they’re going to serve.”

The conference, to be held annually in the region, was both a rousing success and an opportunity to reflect on the progress being made to address the needs of students, even during their darkest moments — an opportunity that Weisel finds particularly inspiring.

“I have a hard time putting into words how good, positive, overwhelming, joyful I felt standing in the room with those 30-plus counselors,” she says. “The energy in that group of people, the professionalism in the room, but also the passion that those folks have for helping kids — I feel so good knowing who’s at the table.”

CHANGE ON THE HORIZON

It’s moments like this that demonstrate just how much power and positive change a community can generate when they come together to acknowledge and address an issue, especially one that — like suicide — we might otherwise want to sweep under the rug because it can be so hard to make sense of. As any of these educators and practitioners will tell you, there is still much work to be done to curb the rise in youth suicide, but the fact that local schools are engaging in these conversations, creating these communities and implementing these new strategies within their walls suggests a turn of the tides, one that Chatham County schools are striving toward with empathy and a welcoming embrace.

Even so, Hofstadter-Duke, who spoke at the inaugural counselor conference, acknowledges it’s important to recognize that, despite best efforts, conversations and programs put in place, tragedy can still strike. If it does, she reiterates that the best path forward lies in clear, honest communication.

“These are really difficult emotions that, for the most part, most people try not to talk about too much, which is just a normal human tendency,” she says. “But if I have an open line of communication with my child, and I am going to listen to what they say in a nonjudgmental way, I’m more likely to hear what’s going on. And that gives me more power in terms of what I can do.”

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POSITIVE PROGRESS

In its efforts to combat loneliness and isolation, St. Andrew’s School ushered in a new paradigm in the fall of 2022 with the help of The Positivity Project, a national nonprofit organization dedicated to the power of building positive relationships.

This project, cofounded in 2015 by Army veterans Mike Erwin and Jeff Bryan, provides resources, lesson plans and training to over 800 schools across the nation, giving them the tools they need to help students build stronger, healthier bonds while growing as individuals. And now, Savannah residents can find The Positivity Project at a number of local schools — including the Upper and Lower schools at St. Andrew’s, Susie King Taylor Community School and Tharros Place — with hopes to expand further into the county in the coming years.

Through thoughtful and consistent 15-minute daily lessons, students are exposed to positive psychology’s 24 character strengths — traits like perseverance, open-mindedness and humility — through hands-on activities, stories and video clips, providing students and educators with a powerful common language.

“The Positivity Project is an upstream approach to fighting the loneliness epidemic,” says Bryan, a Savannah resident and speaker at this year’s inaugural Low Country School Counselors Conference. “We want students to be able to identify, appreciate and articulate the strengths in themselves and other people, and then build positive character-based relationships through their understanding.”

According to David Nash, a counselor at St. Andrew’s, the results speak for themselves.

“The kids have taken the ball and are running with it,” he says. After a lesson on the appreciation of beauty in the world, two first-grade students created an environmental club, enlisting a team of young scholars to help clean up the playground for their peers. A lesson on spreading humor in the face of negativity inspired the students to create a joke book for the families at the Ronald McDonald House Charities of the Coastal Empire, and, in one particularly heartwarming moment, Nash recalls a second-grader who came to the aid of one of his peers, consoling him when he noticed the boy crying and struggling over his math work. This, of course, came after a lesson on true friendship and the power of just being there for someone in times of need.

“We have seen countless examples where the kindness of just one person can make all the difference in the world,” Nash says.