Suicide Prevention at Jenks High School
By: Ethan Adkins
Struggling happens to everyone, whether that's a physical or mental struggle. The topic of mental health and suicide is a huge stigma in our society but should be discussed more often. In 2023 the CDC said around 12.8 million people thought about committing suicide, while 3.7 million made a plan to commit, and 1.5 million attempted. In that same year 49,000 people committed suicide- that’s one nearly every 11 minutes.
September is National Suicide Prevention Month, so taking a closer look, how do we help students here at Jenks? Many kids struggle with mental health and suicidal thoughts, but what are the facts and fiction of suicide? What does Jenks have in place to help support students that are struggling with their mental health? I sat down with Jennifer Patchett, our new Crisis Counselor, to answer these questions.
When I asked her what some common myths about suicide are she said this.
"Sometimes people think there are easy signs or that it should have been obvious who is at risk when they hear about someone dying by suicide,” said Patchett.
We all like to think that we can see the signs of someone who is struggling, but in actuality, the signs of struggle are harder to spot. Patchett mentioned that these decisions could be at the end of a terrible day or after months of terrible events leading up to it.
"Not every person at risk for suicide looks the same or has the same story," said Patchett.
Making these large statements that say, "People make assumptions that you can tell based off of how a person acts or presents themselves but someone can "look happy" and still be struggling with suicidal thoughts.", people’s stories are never the same and it can be hard to tell who is struggling and what they're struggling with. If you want to learn more about myths, Patchett suggested checking out Mayo suicide myths for more info.
How do students receive support here at Jenks? While talking to Patchett, she offered herself as a resource to struggling students. She looks over crises on campus, and if her door is open, she invites people to come talk to her if you need support. Jenks also offers a few different counseling agencies to assist people as well.
“We have a lot of counseling agencies embedded here at the school. That way, if you did want counseling services for mental health support, you wouldn’t have to leave campus,” Patchett said.
To further expand on resources she added that 988 is the suicide and crisis hotline. This is a free resource that anyone can use that connects you to counselors to assist you with whatever is going on. I would also like to add 866-488-7386, this is the Trevor Project’s number. The Trevor Project is an organization that gives LGBTQ+ members mental health help. There are also multiple different organizations you can contact, such as NAMI and NIMH. These organizations help find you services to assist you through struggles.
Finally, how do we discuss this? How can we break the stigma of discussing sensitive topics and make them less taboo?
“There is a myth out there that talking about suicide or asking, like if you’re concerned about someone that asking about if they’re thinking about suicide or hurting themselves would put that idea in their mind and that has been disproven,” Patchett said.
The simplest way to make this topic less taboo is just simply talking about it. The more we flat out discuss our struggles and overcome the fear of saying suicide, the quicker we can get to the root of what has people struggling.
Ask your friends, family, and the people around you how they’re doing. Patchett also mentioned that a way to make yourself more available to people is biting the curb and cutting down on suicide related jokes. We’re all guilty of jokingly saying “KYS” or “KMS” in response to either something that happened or something someone said. But it’s the small steps that can make the biggest changes, not just for yourself but for your friends, family, and the people around you.
