School District Works on Suicide Prevention

During their February 12 meeting, the Churchill County School District Trustees heard a presentation from Emma White, the Youth Suicide Prevention Coordinator with the Nevada Division of Public and Behavioral Health, who made a report on the work her agency is doing to assist the district with Youth Suicide prevention in Churchill County and statewide. 

The Nevada Office of Suicide Prevention has offices in Reno and Las Vegas, covering the state with six staff members. According to White, who referenced the current data from 2022, Nevada falls 7th highest in suicide rates in the country, and suicide is the 2nd leading cause of death among 8 to 44-year-olds in Nevada. In the 65+ population, suicide is the 6th leading cause of death. In Nevada, there is one suicide death every 14 hours. 

“For 60 years Nevada was first in the nation in suicide deaths per capita, so we are headed in the right direction,” White said. 

There are several initiatives White and her colleagues are working on with the district, including Prevention 101, the Hope Squad, which is a peer-led group focusing on mental health, and Postvention at the middle and high schools. “We have been working with the middle school during August, September, and October,” White said, explaining Postvention as “what we do when we lose someone.”

White also said her NOSP has received the Garrett Lee Smith grant and will be working with Churchill, Elko, and Carson Counties for the next five years, focused on “what to recognize and what to do about it.” 

Additionally, the Signs of Suicide program (SOS) will continue, with training for school district members, families, and students. 

Trustee Joe McFadden expressed concern that students are made aware of all available resources, and Trustee Kathryn Whitaker emphasized the need for ongoing, continual training. 

White explained that there will be training every year with new approaches, and sometimes, training can be designed to focus on informal roundtable conversations instead of structured three-hour training. “Sometimes there is so much value in talking and asking questions about certain circumstances and experiences,” White said. 

Whitaker said the district does not currently have a policy addressing suicide prevention, “and I want one.”

White said that the Postvention program has a tool kit template with best practices that can be used to model policy statements. “The Department of Education is going to require these plans be a part of the emergency operation plans by August,” White said. 

In addition to this work with NOSP, school district staff and representatives have also participated in the community-wide work with Tipping Point over the past eight months to develop the Churchill County Behavioral Health and Suicide Prevention Plan.