Suicide prevention month brings information to youth

Flandreau students are learning about a subject that isn’t often found in their textbooks.
But the 7-12 graders know what to do if someone shows signs they are considering suicide, and they know the statistics.
“Last year in South Dakota, there were 192 suicide deaths,” said Kari Lena-Helling, Flandreau’s new high school and middle school counselor. Suicide is the second most common cause of death in people ages 15 to 24 in South Dakota. Car crashes top the list.
“This is something we as a society can do something about. The concern is the rate of suicide is going up,” she said.
Lena-Helling spoke with students in grades seventh and high recently about the topic because September is National Suicide Prevention month.

Young people want information and want to understand what to do if someone they know needs help, she said.
It’s important for people to get help when they see warning signs rather than wait for an attempt, she said. Some signs include low self-worth, depression, anxiety, distancing themselves from people they care about, not wanting to be involved and drug and alcohol use, which can be used to mask the pain they are experiencing.
It’s OK to ask someone if they are thinking about harming themselves. That question won’t set the idea of suicide in someone’s mind, she said. It might help someone who is in so much pain they can’t ask for help.
Students, who already know about suicide but need research-based information to be able to help, were attentive, she said. “They were all very respectful of the material.”
Lena-Helling said the rise in suicide or attempts among young people is being linked to social media, where students can be bullied even when they are not in school. “Students who are depressed can see their friends hang out without them,” she said.
Early teen years also are a time when mental health issues can start, she said. Depression, anxiety and self-harm can show up in students of middle school age.
Lena-Helling, the Hartford native who previously was a college admissions counselor and is working on her masters in school counseling from South Dakota State University, said her focus coming in as a new counselor is going to be on prevention instead of reaction to various topics. She has plans for some mental illness information and a speaker who will talk about the prevention of opioid use.
“The students want the information. They care about each other. They care about themselves. They care about family members,” she said.
For suicide prevention, she has posters in each classroom and throughout the school with this year’s Flandreau school motto #standtallfliers and #wewontbesilent. It also provides a hotline number to the national suicide prevention organization, 1-800-273-8255.