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15-year old Amber was depressed. In just a year, she’d lost both her uncle and her grandfather.
“I would just sit in my room and cry and cry,” she remembers. “I would think, ‘Why do I have to be here? Why couldn’t it be me [who] died?’”
The turning point for Amber was a video she watched in class called “Signs of Suicide” or S.O.S, a program about depression and suicide.
According to the Journal of Public Health, the S-O-S program is making a dramatic difference: suicide attempts dropped by forty-percent in the five U.S. schools studied, including Amber’s.
“I think the power of it is that it does reach kids with kids,” says Dr. Christine Daley, the psychologist who brought the program to Amber’s school district in Columbus, Georgia. “They get a chance to hear from their peers about what they’ve experienced and it gives them the tools to recognize these signs in themselves and in their family members.”
Researchers say the program works because it teaches kids about depression, a precursor to suicide.
By bringing the issue to the forefront, students are able to recognize depression in themselves and their friends and then get help if they need it. Experts say parents can do the same thing for their kids.
“Don’t be afraid to talk about it,” says Dr. Daley. “One of the things we’re fearful of is that if we talk about or if we mention suicide or depression that we’re going to introduce that idea to children. That’s not the case at all.”
Amber says she never really considered suicide. But her friends worried about her depression. After watching the video, they convinced her to ask for professional help. It made a difference in her life.
She says, “I feel happy-happy that I’m here-happy that I [have] friends [who] care about me.” |
