While you may be uncomfortable about a child making suicidal comments, your intervention of seeking help for this child, may be lifesaving. If your school has a formal referral system, become familiar with it and make use of it when you suspect one of your students of depression. Meeting with parents may be a good way to become more familiar with the home situation. Team efforts between the teacher, school nurse, and parents are often necessary to provide the consistent support system needed to aid a depressed child. If your student is being treated with medication, meeting with the school nurse and parents about specific side effects and reactions experienced by the student will also be helpful.
Suicide ranks among the top three causes of death in adolescents and teens.
Although the rate is much lower in younger children it does exist. Perhaps if suicide tendencies were recognized earlier, the teen suicide rate could be reduced. Discuss any questions with your child's physician or healthcare provider. You are visitor number to this page since Jan 12, 1999.