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Education essential: Programs help young understand factors

JOLIET — Counselor Marvin Reed doesn't skirt the suicide issue.

  He tells a sophomore health class that he is planning to jump off Jackson Street bridge and is calling a friend for help.

  "She left me. I love her," Reed said.

  "Can I have your things?" one student quips.

  "What will you say to me? I'm serious," Reed said.

  "Don't do it! Over a girl?" one student said.

  "She's the only one. I know I love her. She is it," Reed answered back.

  "There is more fish in the sea than you being in the sea," a student said.

  "He's not going to jump," a student said seriously.

  "Help him. He's going to jump, said Anna Ernst, counselor at Joliet Central High School.

  "I'm your best friend. I'm going to kill myself. ... you guys would let me?" Reed asked.

  Each year, Reed and Ernst visit sophomore health classes as part of the students' mental health unit to dispel the myths of suicide, such as suicide happens without warning and rich people commit suicide more often than poor people.

  Ernst and Reed teach students to take suicide seriously by teaching them the warning signs and what to do if a friend tells them they are going to do it.

  Students try to convince Reed that his parents loved him more than the girl. But he disagreed. His parents are divorced. They don't see him that much.

  Another student offered to jump with him, thinking Reed wouldn't want to see his friend die so he wouldn't jump either.

  But Reed said that was a bad idea, especially if they were in a car together. The friend just might run into a tree and both would die.

  "You were all trying to fix it for him. You were giving suggestions. He doesn't want suggestions," Ernst said. "He wants you to listen to him."

  Ernst and Reed stressed over and over to get help if you or a friend is thinking about committing suicide. Don't keep their secret.

  "They can get over getting mad, but they can't get over being dead," Reed said.

  "If you have a friend who is thinking about it, take it seriously - don't blow it off," Reed said.

  "Talking to people about suicide doesn't meant it will put the thought in their heads," Ernst said. "Saying (suicide) will not get them to do it.

  "Little less than every two hours someone has made a decision that they no longer want to live," Ernst said.

  "Suicide is a permanent solution to a temporary problem," Reed said.

  To prove it, Reed had students volunteered to hold a bright yellow rope that went out of the classroom and down the long hallway.

  The average life expectancy is 85 years to 90 years old, Reed said. Standing at almost the beginning of the rope, he said that's where one would be at 15 years old. They still have to get their driver's licenses, they have to graduate high school and turn 18.

  "Look at how much life you have to live," Reed said. "This is why it's important to talk about teen suicide. ... Think about how much life you have left."

  Talking to health classes is just one of things Joliet Central does to make people aware of the rising rates of suicide. Each year almost 5,000 young people, ages 15 to 24, take their own lives, according to the National Mental Health Association.

  The suicide rate has nearly tripled since 1960, making it the third-leading cause of death among youth.

  In Will County, six youths, ages 12 to 19, died by suicide in 2001. Five of them were males and one was a female. The youngest was a 12-year-old Hufford Junior High boy who hanged himself.

  How to deal with depression is taught in the sixth-grade health curriculum because the Illinois State Board of Education requires it, said Deborah Carter-Hinton, chair of physical development and health for Joliet Grade School District.

  In seventh- and eighth grades, students are taught to recognize the warning signs of suicide and the importance of getting help.

  In local high schools, the lessons of the warning signs and suicide prevention is continued in health classes either at freshman or sophomore level.

  Teachers, especially English teachers, are taught to read between the lines for depressed students. If they aren't sure, they are told to bring the writings in to the social worker because it's better to be safe than sorry, said Sue Hudders, social worker at Lockport Township High School.

  Many high schools like Joliet West and Joliet Central offer support groups on topics that are causing stress or pain to students, said Debbie Burrows, student assistant coordinator at Joliet West High School.

  "We have many support groups for kids. We have ones for anger problems, divorce, parents of kids who have an alcoholic in their family, eating disorders, family problems, relationship problems, young moms, grief and stop smoking," Burrows said.

  This year, Burrows started a new freshman seminar program where freshman peer counselors go into study halls twice a week during the first semester to teach student life skills, suicide prevention and where to go for help. During the second semester, they focus on hate crime, bullying and healthy relationships.

  Joliet Central also holds support groups during the first semester to help students talk about their problems.

  Reed said keeping the lines of communication open is the key.

  Students who are thinking about suicide will often come in with a friend.

  Social workers and counselors will talk to the student and conduct an assessment to see how serious the issue is and whether the student has a plan to commit suicide. Social workers will also call the parents and give them referrals on where to get help, Reed said.

  "It's not an every day thing, but it happens," Reed said.