When young people take their own life, it is difficult for those around them to talk about it.
The topic is too stressful, there are too many questions in the room, too great is the worry of having to endure inappropriate reactions.
"I can therefore understand everyone who is silent," says the chairman of the parents' council of the Sachsenhausen Carl-Schurz-Schule, Alix Puhl.
“But if nobody says anything, then nobody learns how to deal with it.” Parents and teachers are often overwhelmed by recognizing depression or suicidal tendencies in young people and counteracting them.
Puhl, who headed the City Parents' Council for a long time, also speaks from her own family experience: She lost a son to suicide almost a year ago. An initiative has now grown out of the grief and the reappraisal, the aim of which is to train and support Hessian teachers in such a way that suicides are prevented. Together with Judith Junk, senior teacher at the Max Planck School in Rüsselsheim, Puhl has developed a project of which she is now trying to convince cultural policy.
After accidents, suicides are the second leading cause of death for children and adolescents, say Puhl and Junk.
Pupils with an unclear sexual identity are particularly at risk: they have a four to eight times higher risk of suicidal thoughts and behavior.
Often there is a mental illness, but there are also connections with stress and adolescence crises.
People who are responsible for adolescents must be prepared for this.
“A risk of suicide is not as easy to recognize as a broken leg,” says Puhl.
It is typical of adolescents to shut themselves off from adults, and some are masters at hiding problems.
However, a qualified risk assessment and adequate treatment are crucial in order to save lives.
A particularly high number of cases in the pandemic
That is why the school parents' council calls for the subject of suicide prevention to be integrated into teacher training courses. However, the individual teachers should not be left alone with this demanding topic. Rather, every member of the school community must be attentive and know where to get help if needed. With this in mind, Puhl and Junk propose a Hesse-wide coordination office for suicide prevention. This could work together with the school psychologists at the nationwide 15 state school boards. In a project period of initially three years, a strategy should be developed and gradually implemented in the schools.
In the opinion of the parents' council and the teacher, it would be possible to concentrate on the grammar schools first, as there is no or only limited school social work there. If successful, the concept could be transferred to the other secondary schools. The participating school communities are to be supported during the project period to network with one another, to organize prophylaxis days, for example in levels eight and eleven, as well as student groups and parents' evenings. A project homepage is intended to provide contacts, for example, to self-help groups, foundations and clinics, and to provide information about youth crises in connection with addiction, eating disorders, self-harm, social anxiety and depression.
According to Puhl and Junks, the topic is particularly urgent due to the corona pandemic. In the past few months, the depressive moods among students have increased. This problem will not be solved with the end of the crisis. Because of all mental illnesses, depression is most closely related to suicides.