Like other physicians and parents, he believes in talking to kids, as long as it's done in a responsible way. About 20 percent of high school students seriously consider suicide, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and as many as 8 percent to 9 percent will make an attempt each year, usually unknown to their parents and teachers. But she added that the fear of contagion is stopping a much-needed societal discussion. In Baltimore County schools, the coordinator of guidance and counseling, Rowland Savage, says they assume lots of kids are thinking about suicide. The issue they work on is how best to help them.
Denial is the big killer.
In the past few years, as a string of suicides hit kids in public, private and boarding schools, there was no statistical increase in Maryland's youth suicide rate. But to many families, it seemed that way. And every report of a new death made them more passionate about doing something. The Baltimore woman recently met with the State Board of Education to push for prevention programs in all schools and succeeded in getting many schools to print a crisis hot line number on student identification cards. She also speaks to students, and she tells them about her sister.