Suicide Awareness Initiative group talks progress, challenges

BY STACI WILSON

Nearly two and one-half years after the Susquehanna County Suicide Awareness Initiative submitted its recommendations to the county, those involved gathered together on Aug. 15 to provide a community update.

Jeremy Yale, administrator of the Lackawanna-Susquehanna Behavioral Health/ Intellectual Disabilities/Early Intervention Program provided a brief background of the initiative that began in the fall of 2015.

Yale said there has been remarkable progress in the few years as the county organized to assess and identify innovative, evidence-based programs and practices, as well as promote measures for prevention and community awareness.

“The key is sustainability,” he said, and noted the county’s investment in hiring a Diane Hawley-Wurth as the Suicide Prevention Coordinator in February 2018.

Hawley-Wurth said everyday she works in outreach in the county she hears people’s stories, and noted a stigma still surrounds the topic, especially among older residents.

Elk Lake High School Principal Brian Mallery and Montrose Area High School Principal Eric Powers both spoke about the Mind Your Mind assembly on mental health held for students in the past year.

Both admitted their initial hesitance in agreeing to bring in the speaker. “I was not sure how the message would be received,” Mallery said. But the speaker took the time after his talk to answer questions and talk one-on-one with students, a move appreciated by the school administrator.

“There’s been outreach in places we didn’t know existed. It’s nice to know we have support. We can’t do it alone,” Mallery said. “We try, but we can’t. As a school district, we appreciate the help.”

Alejandra Marroquin, of Lackawanna-Susquehanna Behavioral Health, and Jessica Aquilinas, superintendent of the Forest City School District, touched on the initiative’s next steps.

Marroquin noted starting an LGBTQ initiative. “Schools can be a hostile environment for students,” she said. According to a 2015 GLSEN survey, 82.5 percent of LGBTQ students experienced verbal harassment and 48.6 percent had dealt with electronic (social media) harassment.

Aquilina said test scores can all improve, but “at the end of the day, if the student is not happy, we’re not successful.”

She noted, “We have a population that is not comfortable living their lives in the community and that’s unfortunate.”

The superintendent said she was nervous about how an LGBTQ initiative would be received by the staff in the conservative community. “The staff asked to be part of creating a safe space,” she said.

Prior to the start of school, Blue Ridge and Mountain View school districts also planned to have staff sessions to begin an incremental initiative based on the schools’ needs.

Aquilina said sometimes things are done that unconsciously create a hostile environment, like forced gender activities.

Both advocated for small changes to be put into place to increase schools as safe zones for kids. “We need to understand the impact of our actions on the students we serve,” Aquilina said.

Susquehanna County Director of Children and Youth Services noted the tremendous work being done in the schools with children, but said the challenge in her office is that work doesn’t always transfer when the child goes home or into the community. She asked what the next steps would be to engage parents and the community to start the conversation moving in that direction.

Aquilina agreed that family engagement is often a challenge but said parents would continued to be invited to the table. “Our job is to continue supporting kids while they are in our care, not just LGBTQ youth, but all of them,” she said.

The group also discussed continuing challenges, such as the isolating nature of life in the rural county, and access to transportation. But they also discussed potential ways to provide better mental health services to reach more people in the county.

“There’s been progress, but there is still a distance to go,” Yale said.