DEL NORTE—At the monthly Rio Grande Prevention Partners (RGPP) Community Coalition meeting on Oct. 2, the coalition heard a presentation from Dr. Janessa Henninger, a faculty member of the Adams State University Counselor Education Department.
Henninger, with Christina Harrell; MA, LPC, William Spies, MA, LPCC and Dr. Jenny Cureton conducted the study “Community readiness of the San Luis Valley Schools to address adolescent suicide.”
Henninger was approached by RGPP to possibly conduct suicide prevention trainings in local school districts, but stated she wanted to first assess the readiness of local districts for these trainings. The authors of the study interviewed eight staff members from three school districts and five different schools, including an assistant superintendent, a principal, two counselors, a teacher, a student, a prevention coordinator and a mental health school liaison.
The schools’ readiness was scored overall on a scale of one to nine, with one being the least ready and nine being the most and was scored in five separate dimensions from the 2014 Tri-Ethnic Center at Colorado State University’s standards for Community Readiness for Community Change. The overall SLV schools’ readiness was assessed as a 3.3, or a “vague awareness” stage of readiness to address of the problem of suicide, resources available and means to create sustainable initiatives to address the issue.
The schools were scored at a 4.13 for efforts and knowledge of efforts available to address adolescent suicide, a “pre-planning” stage. Henninger stated the staff interviewed cited concerns about budgeting more resources into already tight budgets or had attitudes that if they didn’t talk about the issue it wouldn’t become an issue in their schools/districts. They’re also apprehensive about taking more time from teachers for additional trainings, as well as how to apply the trainings in the classrooms.
The Leadership dimension was scored at a 3.25, or “vague awareness.” According the Tri-Ethnic Center’s definition, “Leadership believes that this issue may be a concern in the community. They show no immediate motivation to act. It may not be seen as a priority.” Henninger stated the people interviewed largely cited school leadership as “passively supportive” and “open to suggestions.”
The Community Climate dimension was scored at 2.37, or a “denial/resistance” stage. The study stated “When discussing the community, many participants stated many of the efforts are not taken advantage of, and the community has a general attitude that suicide is not a concern until something happens in their district. One participant stated ‘ignorance is bliss,’ which was a theme in most of the participant interviews. Another common theme amongst participants was the school counselors were responsible for addressing adolescent suicide, other school personnel, like teachers, did not have time and tend to have too many children in their classrooms to focus on one child.”
The knowledge of adolescent suicide dimension “addresses the community’s knowledge of suicide, how detailed that knowledge is and what type of information is available to the community. It also looks at any incorrect information among community members.” This dimension was scored at 3.25 or “vague awareness.” Henninger stated the school counselors interviewed were acutely aware of the issue but others who still think that not addressing the issue will help prevent adolescent suicide from occurring within their district.
In the Resources dimension, or “the resources available, such as time, money, people and space to support efforts to address the issue” was scored at a 3.65 or “vague awareness.” According to the Tri-Ethnic Center definition, “Current efforts may be funded, but the funding is not necessarily stable or continuing. There are limited resources (such as a community room) identified that could be used for further efforts to address the issue. There is little motivation to allocate these resources to this issue.”
The study recommendations included a SLV Task Force and looking for means for districts to make handling suicide prevention an issue for all members of schools’ staff and administrations. Additionally, finding ways to ensure administrations understand the impact of mental health on academic performance was also a suggestion, as was providing free or low-cost mandatory trainings for school personnel. Larger community education as well as resources for parents was also suggested, as was informing school counselors of available grants.
RGPP members discussed the impacts of the study’s findings and potential solutions. RGPP member and Monte Vista City Councilor Gary Johnson asked how the suicide rate in the SLV compares to the rest of the state of Colorado with Henninger answering the rate is higher and there are fewer resources. Del Norte School District Curriculum Director and RGPP member Aaron Horrocks suggested breaking trainings into pieces that were most relevant for each school/grade level. Monte Vista Recreation Director and Center Town Trustee Jaime Hurtado noted youth need to see consistent follow-up to their concerns to be willing to open up. Henninger noted all of the local districts need a consistent buy-in to make progress toward addressing the issue.