Adolescent suicidal behavior in schools: What to know and what to do

Abstract

School psychologists play a vital role in the mental health and well-being of students and are often tasked with establishing the assessment and intervention plans for reducing the severity of mental health difficulties, including suicidal behavior. With suicide the second-leading cause of death for middle and high school students, school psychologists need to be familiar with what their role is in recommending and providing suicide prevention and intervention programs within a multitiered systems of support (MTSS) framework. This chapter provides an overview of the problem of adolescent suicidal behavior ("what to know"), while also providing specific recommendations ("what to do") for suicide prevention/intervention programs within each tier of the MTSS. Finally, this chapter includes specific guidelines for implementing "suicide postvention" (after a death due to suicide) procedures, in hopes of reducing the likelihood of another death due to suicide.