On Tuesday, March 28, 2023 there is going to be a Teen Suicide Forum run by The League Of Womens Votors Of The Cape Cod Area. This forum is going to be conducted on Zoom from 6:30-8 pm and is going to have speakers ranging from high school students to counselors.The moderator is Jackie Lane, director of the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI). 

The purpose of the forum is to educate schools, families, and others how to offer supportive practices to their friends and family who deal with mental illnesses and to teach policies on how to prevent teenage suicide. 

“The forum is to really stimulate a conversation about is teenage suicide. We believe that things like this should not be swept under the rug. We need to address it. There is still kind of a stigma around teen suicide and it needs to be talked about,” said Lane. 

The forum will allow questions in the chat section of the Zoom calls. These questions will be answered by medical professionals and counselors. 

This forum overlaps with another program Barnstable High School is running called Signs of Suicide (SOS). This program is being taught to eighth graders, sophomores, and seniors during the school day. Eighth graders will be doing this training this week March 27-31, sophomores will be doing it from April 24-28, and seniors had their meetings last week March 20-24. SOS will be taught by Barnstable’s guidance counselors and is meant to educate students on the relationship between depression and suicide and how to spots signs of someone struggling. This is proven to have been effective at reducing suicide risk according to BHS guidance counselour Shawn Kingman.

The SOS program is going to be taught through interactive videos, and tools that are given to students so that they can seek help if they notice signs of depression or suicidal thoughts. 

“The SOS Program is a nationwide program which BHS adopted 15 years ago.  It has proven to be a great way for our school to help students get the support they need if they do, ” said Kingman.. 

With these two programs coinciding, It shows how important an issue teenage mental illness is and how much the public needs to help and do what they can to address this issue. If you or someone you love is struggling, please know that help is available. 

The Suicide & Crisis Lifeline is available for calls and text messages at 988.  If you are in need of health and human services resources, you can now call 211 for help.  The local crisis center, Bay Cove Human Services, is also available at (833)229-2683. 

To join the Zoom teen suicide forum next Tuesday visit:

https://my.lwv.org/massachusetts/cape-cod-area#Preventing_Youth_Suicide