Running head: UNLOCKED 1

UNLOCKED: The Key to Limiting Suicide and Depression Among Youth

Lanessa L. Benson

Legal Studies Academy at First Colonial High School

Abstract

This paper discusses the current suicide and depression program in Virginia Beach, and

the effectiveness of said program.Throughout this paper the author analyzes programs from

different areas of the world. Along with this, many ways to try and limit suicide rates in youth

are explored. This is done through looking at society's reaction to suicide, and the legal issues

that come along with teen suicide. With this one will find out what makes up and ideal suicide

prevention program.
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UNLOCKED: The Key to Limiting Suicide and Depression Among Youth

On November 1st, 2017, former First Colonial High School student Jacob Hankins

committed suicide. He was a senior; he had seven more months till he would walk across the

stage and be able to start a new chapter in his life. Sadly, that was not the case. He left his

friends, family, and the First Colonial community devastated. On December 7, 2016, a former

student from Ocean Lakes High School took his own life. This young man was in line to be

valedictorian but did not make it to his graduation day. This begs the questions, “Why are these

young minds choosing not to live up to their full potential?” and “What is the common

denominator between the two?” Both

students were products of the Virginia Beach City Public School System, where a suicide

prevention program for adolescents is in place. This program is called “I Need a Lighthouse,”

and every high school in Virginia Beach is a part of the program. This program is intended to

prevent suicide; however, student suicide and suicide attempts are still increasing. The “I Need a

Lighthouse Program,” was a great idea for the time, but nearly two decades later the effects have

not been long-lasting. The times have changed, and in this day and age, the youth of Virginia

Beach are in need of an updated system that will help them through their hardships in a way that

can not be done by a system nineteen years old.

Background Information on Current Virginia Beach System

On July 5, 2001, a young man by the name of Jake Wakefield took his own life. He, like

many others who have chosen to take their own life, left his family and friends saddened,

confused, and hopeless. However, a particular person thought there was something that needed to

be done to help prevent youth from becoming depressed and committing suicide. This person’s

name is Kathleen Wakefield, the mother of Jake Wakefield, and she made it her mission to make
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sure that no other parent, family member, or friend felt the pain she felt when she lost her son.

Over the past nineteen years, the “I Need a Lighthouse” program has strived to teach ninth

graders across the city of Virginia Beach in the hopes for the students to learn about mental

health and allow students to help themselves and their friends who are at risk for suicide and

depression (I need a Lighthouse, 2015).

The purpose of this program has not changed. In fact, the program has remained quite

constant. They come to every Virginia Beach high school once a year where the students hear a

speaker and watch the same video. Consistency, in some cases, is a good thing, but not when the

program is nearly twenty years old and one is trying to cater to the youth of today. The website

for “I Need a Lighthouse” has not been updated since 2010, besides the one update a year ago

when they posted the new date for the Beacon of Hope 5k. The “I Need a Lighthouse Psychology

Club” was created in 2008 at Cox High School. This club allowed students to meet with health

care professionals and learn more about mental health and depression. However, this program is

no longer active, so it is no longer an effective part of the program (A. Tomao, personal

communication, November 7, 2018). The “I Need a Lighthouse” program only has three

activities it has consistently done over the years, one of which is no longer active today, and the

other two only occur once a year. The question is still on the table of whether or not the program

can still be effective with the minimal amount of activities the program holds for students across

the city.

Other Programs in Use

All over the world, there are different school systems with their own take on suicide

prevention programs. The programs may differ slightly, a great deal, or not at all from the

current program Virginia Beach uses. It is important to compare and contrast the different
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programs, and through doing this research on various programs in the state, country, and around

the world one can see what will make up an ideal program.

Programs from Other States in the U.S.

Virginia's adolescent suicide rates are not necessarily high, but also not low compared to

the other states in the country. Virginia is ranked 35th in the nation on a scale from highest

adolescent suicide rates to lowest. California, on the other hand, has one of the lowest suicide

rates in the country and is ranked 45th (Knowles, 2018). A factor that plays a role in the low

suicide rates among teenagers is Assembly Bill 2246. This bill was enacted in September of 2016

by the California state governor. This law requires all local education agencies in California to

obtain a suicide and depression prevention program. During an interview with a guidance

counselor at First Colonial High School, she stated that it would be a good idea to start a new

suicide prevention program in middle schools instead of the ninth grade. This is an aspect of the

California bill, in which their suicide prevention programs start in the seventh grade (Suicide

Prevention Resource Center, 2018). After this law was enacted, the majority of California school

districts had some type of program or policy related to suicide prevention. Most of the programs

cater to the LGBTQ community due to the fact that LGBTQ youth are five times more likely to

commit or attempt to commit suicide (The Trevor Project, 2018).

In Virginia Beach, teachers are required to take online training on various topics ranging

from suicide warning signs among students to sexual misconduct. There are about 14 courses

that can last as long as 35 minutes for each one. This means that faculty in Virginia Beach Public

Schools only have about 20 to 35 minutes of training on the topic of suicide and depression. New

Jersey, the state with the lowest suicide rates, has a suicide prevention training that is very

different from any of the other states in the country. New Jersey requires all public school staff to
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take two hours of mandatory training that consist of a qualified trainer in the mental health

community must administer the training” (Suicide Prevention, 2016, p.5). This means that public

school officials in New Jersey have a face to face training where they can ask questions if needed

and get a better understanding of the information they are obtaining. This is an aspect that could

be implemented into the new program in Virginia Beach, so the staff can look at an actual person

instead of a computer screen.

In addition to this, Adrienne Tomao believes that if a qualified mental health personnel

would come and talk to the youth, it would be very beneficial to them. She goes on to say that if

the students could talk to the professionals, with the parent's consent, it could be a step in the

right direction. However, the issue with this is that it would be costly to get a qualified mental

health professional to come to the schools.

It is prevalent that Virginia Beach has tried to take initiative and solve the problem of

teen suicide and depression through the “I Need a Lighthouse” program. However, some school

districts in other parts of the country have not shown they are taking initiative to reduce their

adolescent suicide rates. In Ohio there has been a string of teen suicides, all occurring within six

months. Police don’t believe that the suicides are connected in any way, but they aren’t sure

whether or not bullying is a factor. As a result of these tragedies, the police force has received

multiple calls for attempted suicides, or from people who think someone they know is suicidal.

One mother of the victim was aware that her child was being bullied, but he never said much

about it. The mother’s advice was that people need to talk when they are feeling like her son was.

Due to this increasing problem, the students at the high school will have more resources, but the

main thing they are urging people to talk to one another and reach out to the people around them.

The article stated that there was going to be more resources for students. They didn’t say what
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kinds of resources, or what the current resources. With this, there is no evidence of the current

tactics the Ohio school district have against adolescent suicide and depression. It is important Commented [1]: cite

that the new program in Virginia Beach prevents this type of problem in the city.

Programs in Other Countries

Suicide is prevalent all over the world, so in order to get a good idea of what to put in an

ideal program one needs to look at policies from different countries around the globe. The

European Union funded a program by the Saving and Empowering Young Lives in Europe

(SEYLE) called Youth Aware of Mental Health (YAM). This program is very interactive and

hands-on and starts with students who are in the 8th grade. This program allows students to learn

about mental health while taking charge of their own. The program is a total of five hours over

the course of four weeks. This program is effective through ¨integrating role play, reflection and

dialogue helps youth reflect on complex mental health problems such as stress, crises, bullying,

discrimination, depression, and suicide¨ (European Commission, 2017). This is an aspect that the

current program in Virginia Beach is lacking. Sixteen countries are actively involved in this

program including Australia, Spain, Germany, and the United States. Australia, Spain, Germany

have some of the lowest suicide rates in the country. These countries only have five to ten

suicides per 100,000 people in their countries (Kiersz, 2014). SEYLE conducted a study to

evaluate how the YAM program was making progress within the schools. This study consisted of

11,000 teenagers, 168 schools, and more than 10 countries that are apart of the European Union.

After this experiment it was concluded that YAM was very successful and that the “intervention

program was significantly effective in preventing new cases of depression, severe suicidal

ideation, and suicide attempts, In fact, the program was successful in reducing incident suicide

attempts by more than half compared to the control group” (European Commission, 2017). In
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another study on YAM, focused specifically in Costa Rica, conducted by the World Health

Organization, they found that adolescent suicide attempts were reduced by 50 percent

(Fleischmann, 2016, p. 5). Youth Aware of Mental Health has proven to be an effective program

in many countries, including some areas of the United States. Many aspects of this program,

including the hands-on activities, would be a notable addition to the program in Virginia Beach.

Model Program by the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention

The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, The Trevor Project, the American

School Counselor Association, and the National Association of School Psychologist teamed up

to establish a model policy for suicide and depression prevention in schools. One can compare

the model policy compiled by these associations to the policies discussed previously in Virginia

Beach, other states in North America, and other countries around the world. What the program

recommends that schools employ mental health services throughout the school. This will allow

the students to better their academic standing, and improve their emotional, social, and physical

skills. The model program makes it so there needs to be an employed mental health professional

who is well trained in aspects such as, mental health, school law, and family systems (American

Foundation for Suicide Prevention, The Trevor Project, American School Counselor Association,

& National Association of School Psychologist, 2016). Family systems therapy is when

therapist evaluate and investigate the impact that family has on individuals and how it affects

one's behavior (GoodTherapy, 2017). This allows principals to run the schools efficiently by

meeting the needs of the students. This policy outlines the steps for prevention, types of students

at risk, and postvention. Postvention is defined as activities that are implemented to heal the

community heal after someone has committed suicide (Norton, 2015).

The steps that the model policy provides for prevention is what most of the programs
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previously discussed have, however, the difference is in the effectiveness that each program has

on the youth when executing these steps. The steps are as follows: implementation of the policy,

training of personnel, developing a suicide prevention program, and the publishing and

distribution of the program. (American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, et. al., 2016). The ¨I

Need a Lighthouse¨ program followed these steps of; implementing the policy into Virginia

Beach Public Schools, having online training for teachers, developing the program, and

distributing the program across the city. Even though The current program in Virginia Beach

followed the steps of the model policy, the effectiveness of the program is questioned. In other

programs, such as YAM, they followed these steps and the program has proven to be successful

in the countries where the program is implemented (Fleischmann, 2016).

Students that are listed as ones at potential risk are students that have a history of

substance abuse and mental health issues, people have previously partaken in suicidal acts,

students who are homeless or removed from their homes due to abuse or neglect, LGBTQ

students, students who have lost someone to suicide, and students with mental health conditions

(American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, et. al., 2016). The ¨I Need a Lighthouse¨ program

does not map out specific youth groups that are at potential risk but have the average warning

signs that people should look out for when determining if someone is at risk of committing

suicide.

When it comes to Postvention the policy states that their needs to be an action plan in

place before someone commits suicide, so the plan will already be in place if and when someone

commits suicide. The policy is to verify the death, asses the situation, share the information in an

appropriate manner, and stop the spreading of the idea of suicide. This will allow the school to

remain under control during the time that could cause the school to go into an uproar (American
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Foundation for Suicide Prevention, et. al., 2016). When the previously mentioned Jacob Hankins

committed suicide, crisis counselors went around to classrooms with a speech about how there's

always a better choice and that, ¨They are here, if anyone wants to talk. However, that was the

extent of the ¨Postvention Plan¨ (A. Tomao, personal communication, November 7, 2018).

Link Between Extracurricular and Suicide Risk

Many studies show that there is a link between students who participate in activities and

the student’s risk of suicide. Students who participate in athletics, religious activities, and other

extracurriculars tend to have lower suicide and depression rates than students who do not

participate in extracurriculars ( sSabo, Miller, Melnick, Farrell, & Barnes, 2008).

A nationwide study done by the National Center for Biotechnology Information studied

whether or not athletic participation has an effect on the suicide rates of students who play

sports. This study included more than 16,000 high school students in the United States (Sabo,

Miller, Melnick, Farrell, & Barnes, 2008). Hierarchical logistic regression analysis was used to

test the hypothesis that, students who participate in athletics have lower rates of suicidal

tendencies. A hierarchical logistic regression analysis is a form of showing, ¨if variables of your

interest explain a statistically significant amount of variance in your Dependent Variable (DV)

after accounting for all other variables¨ (Kim, 2016). For this experiment, the dependent variable

is suicidal ideation and the other variables are athletic activity and the rate in which one

participates in said activities. It was concluded that there was a notable difference between

athletes and non-athletes suicidal behaviors. Students who participated in athletics showed to

have a lower percentage of people that may attempt suicide, and athletes who were highly

involved were had an even lower percentage. Participation in athletic activities are associated

with lower suicide rate (Sabo, Miller, Melnick, Farrell, & Barnes, 2008)
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The New York State Psychiatric Institute and Columbia University conducted a study to see if

spirituality affected suicide rates in youth. They studied people from various religions, and even

with the young adults coming from different religions the results came out to be the same for the

majority of the respondents. It came to be that young people who are spiritual, or their parents

stress importance on religion have reduced the risk of suicide.

It was evident through the experiment that,

It isn’t about how much time you spend at church, or which particular religion you are,

it’s ddddddhaving an inner belief that gives you some kind of strength that

manifests in your behavior. ddddddAnd it is independent of your children’s opinion of religion.

(Carrol, 2018)

Professors from the University of Mississippi, Hofstra University, Oregon Health and

Science University, and Lewis & Clark College conducted a study to conclude whether or

students who participate in extracurricular activities had lower tendencies of suicide and

depression. The study consisted of 121 young adults who were asked to report about their

experience in extracurricular activities. The survey measured how much time the person spent

doing each activity and how long they participated in each activity. For the experiment

extracurriculars were defined as any structured activity a student participates in that is done

through the school or outside of the school. This does not include unorganized activities such as

video game or spending time with friends. After the study was conducted the professor came to a

conclusion that students who are involved in activities, whether they are affiliated with the

school or not have a lower risk of attempting and committing suicide (Bauer, Capron, Ward-

Ciesielski, Doyle, & Gustafsson, 2018).

These studies show that having students participate in extracurricular activities have a

high chance of lowering suicide rates among the youth. This means that all students could benefit

from participating in extracurriculars, especially students who are at risk of suicide and

depression. Having all students be apart of an extracurricular activity could be a great addition to

a suicide prevention program.

Impact Issue has on Society

Adolescent suicide is an issue the affects everyone in the community. It acts as a ripple

effect and touches everyone in the community. Even if one did not know the person who

committed suicide, they know someone who did. Depending on the relationship one had with the

person who committed suicide causes everyone to have a different type of grief. Many close

family members such as siblings or parents often feel guilty. They start to wonder if they could

have done something to prevent their brother or their son from committing suicide. Family

members may become isolated from the rest of their family and friends as a part of their grieving

process (Survivors of Bereavement by Suicide, 2017). Society has many different ways of

looking at adolescent suicide and apart of trying to solve the problem is establishing how society

reacts to teenage suicide.

Different Approaches to the Problem

Due to the fact that teen suicide is such a sensitive issue there are many different ideas of

how people should approach the issue, if at all. No one likes to talk about death, especially not

suicide. It is common for people to believe that talking about suicide only brings the idea to the

adolescent’s mind, and may cause them to attempt it. However, Anna Mueller and Seth Abrutyn,

who are Assistant Professors in Human Development and Sociology, conducted a study to test

this claim. They came to the conclusion that, “only exposure to a friend’s suicide or suicide
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attempt increases an adolescent’s risk of suicide” (Mueller and Abrutyn, 2017). That means,

according to this study, that simply just talking about suicide, is most likely not going to

influence a teen to commit suicide. Both professors concluded that suicide is an issue that is not

encouraged to be talked about, but they recommend that teens need to talk to the people closest

to them like their friends, family, and coaches (Mueller and Abrutyn, 2017).

It is also common that the issue of suicide is not talked about till someone in the

community decides to take their own life. It is argued that the issue needs to be talked about

before it gets to that point. People believe that if one were to shed light on the issue, and make

sure teens have someone they can talk to about their problems, the epidemic wouldn’t be as bad

as it is. However, people just don't want to discuss the issue (Wallace, 2013). An example of this

is the case of Cheryl Sharp, where she attempted suicide three times, and on one occasion her

father stopped her but didn’t take her to receive medical attention. He just made her drink hot salt

water and took her for a walk around the neighborhood (Swift,2014). Cheryl Sharp went on to

become a senior advisor for trauma-informed services at the National Council for Behavioral

Health. She also became a spokesperson and model for the ¨Live Through This¨ foundation. She

believes that if depression and wellness programs were prevalent when she was younger it could

have made a difference, but she also believes these programs make a difference for the youth of

today (I Survived, 2015).

Legal Constraints

When a teen is in counseling or in any other instance where someone may know the

cause of the child's depression, there are legal constraints that come into play. When a teen is and

counseling and then proceeds to commit suicide or attempt to commit suicide, it puts the

therapist or counselor where they have to decide which step is the best one to take for the patient
UNLOCKED 14

and the family. This problem arises because the counselor has their moral duties, but then the

rules they must abide by because of the law. An important step when physicians are dealing with

minor clients is following the same legal procedures as you would adults to get thorough results,

which includes privacy and consent (Syracuse University, 2018).

Since teenagers are minors, it is technically the counselors´ legality to inform the parents

if they are showing signs that they are suicidal (Syracuse University, 2018). Opposers argue that

this is an abridge in privacy and that if the teenager does not give consent no one should know.

This can lead to loss of trust, which may cause the issue to fester. Not only do counselors have

the constant battle between legality and morality, if a client attempts suicide, but they are also

questioned about to accuracy of their work. They are asked questions such as, “Was the

counselor aware or should have been aware of the risk?” or “Was the counselor aware or should

have been aware of the risk?” It’s quite the tedious job, especially when counselors may often

feel like they are doing the wrong thing when following the law, and they want to do what is for

the best interest of the patient.

Legal issues also arise in the school system, when parents may blame the schools for their

child’s death and wish to seek compensation for the loss of their child. Often times the parents

find out their child was being bullied or showed signs that they were depressed and want to know

why the school never told them or took action. In the court case of Philadelfio C. Armijo v.

Wagon Mound Public Schools, one can see where this situation may arise.

A 16-year-old boy who attended Wagon Mound Public School committed suicide after

he was suspended and taken home without the parents knowing. Armijo had learning disabilities

but also struggled with depression and impulsiveness. The model policy mentioned previously

has students with learning disabilities listed as youth who are at risk of suicide and depression
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(American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, et. al., 2016). It is possible that if Wagon Mound

Public Schools had a program that taught personnel this information this suicide could have been

prevented. With this, the principal did not follow the school's policy with suspensions. The

normal policy is if a student receives out-of-school suspension they are to go home. However, "If

a student is placed on out-of-school suspension, but his/her parents will not be home, that student

will be placed instead on in-school suspension without credit for work done." This rule was

ignored due to the fact Armijo’s parents were not home, and no one checked to see if they were.

Not too long after Armijo was sent home he committed suicide. The school was also aware of his

depression and that he had access to firearms. Armijo told a school aid, ¨Maybe I be better of

dead.¨ and ¨I'm just going to shoot myself.” Even after knowing all this the school took no

immediate action. This resulted in a Court ruling in that, “the facts favorable to the Plaintiffs,

facts were scarce so plaintiff could not ¨carry their burden of proof¨ onto the defendants”

(Philadelfio C. Armijo v. Wagon Mound Public Schools, 1998). The court case presented shows

a school system who knew a student had mental health issues and other problems on top of that.

The school system not only neglected the child but also neglected their own school policies. It is

not stated that this school system had a suicide prevention program. However, after thorough

research it can be concluded that there was not a suicide prevention program back then and there

still isn’t one now.

UNLOCKED

In a society where teen suicide is the third leading cause of death, students are in need of

a program to help save themselves and their peers. When the ¨I Need a Lighthouse¨ was created

19 years ago, their mission was to do just that. However, the ¨I Need a Lighthouse¨ program does

not meet the needs of the youth today. The program has been made a mockery of, and it is time
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for a change. Luckily, the answer to a new suicide prevention program in Virginia Beach has

been unlocked. The new program will be called ¨Unlocked,¨ referring to students unleashing the

way to better their mental health and limiting suicide in the community. The program will consist

of various topics discussed previously. Students will partake in hands-on activities that will

actually allow them to take charge if their mental health. Teachers will obtain more training,

hopefully, face-to-face training where they can ask questions, and retain the information better.

Students will be required to participate in at least one extracurricular activity to help reduce their

risk of attempting suicide. By being apart of something bigger than themselves students will feel

a sense of belonging in the activity in which they participate in.

Now that the answer to an ideal program has been unlocked, one needs to act now, rather

than later. People cannot treat this issue like homework, saying they will get to it later and never

do, until it is all piled up much like the bodies of what was supposed to be the future generation.

“Later” can no longer be in one's vocabulary, because there won’t be a later for some if action

isn't taken now. Teenagers need to live on to be our future doctors, teachers, and presidents later

in life to help society thrive and prosper. This new program will allow youth to do just that. The

goal in the future is, when students leave school or finish hanging out with their friends, they can

say, “I’ll see you later,” and know they actually will.
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Assembly Bill: Pupil Suicide Prevention Policies., A. 2246, 642d Leg. (Cal.). Retrieved

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https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB2246
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Bauer, B., Capron, D., Ward-Ciesielski, E., Doyle, C., & Gustafsson, H. (2018,

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