Let’s Talk About Suicide Facts and Prevention

McMillan Health

September is suicide prevention month. This is the perfect time to make sure your students are educated on social and emotional health and overall well-being, including suicide prevention.

Get the facts on suicide:

Before the pandemic, suicide was the 2nd leading cause of death for Indiana youth ages 15-24 and the 4th leading cause of death for our children ages 5-14. At that time, we ranked 2nd out of 34 states measured in the percentage of students who made a suicide plan, and 3rd out of 37 states measured in the percentage of students who seriously considered attempting suicide.

In 2020, 30-40% of Indiana students reported feeling so sad or hopeless for two or more weeks in a row that they stopped doing usual activities.

In an alarming statistical subset, 49.8% of female 10th graders reported experiencing this level of sadness and subsequent behavior change.

11.8% of 6th and 19.3% of 10th graders reported seriously considering suicide in the past year, with 9% of 6th graders reporting making a plan, ranging to 14.3% of 10th graders planning suicide.

By gender, about 25% of female 8th-10th graders report considering attempting suicide, and almost 19.3% of female 8th graders reported making a plan.

Nationally, Mental Health America shares that more people are reporting frequent thoughts of suicide and self-harm than in the history of their online screening program. Youth report the most, with over half of 11-17-year-olds using the tool reporting thoughts of suicide or self-harm for more than half, or nearly every day of the previous two weeks as of September 2020.

McMillen Health offers twenty-three (23) social and emotional health programs for students from Preschool-12th grade, suicide prevention is one of those programs. You can find them below and view detailed descriptions online. If you don’t see what you are looking for, reach out to us and we can help you get what you need.

NEW! Mini Mood Monsters (Grades Preschool)

Body Safety Check (Grades Preschool-1)

Bully Don't Bother Me (Grades K-1)

Mood Monsters (Grades K-2)

Don't Give Me Any Bull (Grades 2-3)

No Bad Secrets (Grades 2-3)

Digital Citizenship 101 (Grades 3-5)

Internet Surfin' Safety (Grades 3-5)

Hooked On A Feeling (Grades 3-5)

Hesitate to Intimidate (Grade 4)

Body Boss (Grades 4-5)

Odor Eaters 101 (Grades 4-5)

Stand Against Bullying (Grades 4-6)

Digital Citizenship 201 (Grades 6-8)

Dunk The Funk (Grades 6-8)

Mind-Full Of Stress (Grades 6-8)

Password to Internet Safety (Grades 6-8)

Toll of Abuse (Grades 6-8)

Wired & Routed: Cyber Bullying (Grades 7-8)

Sexting and Texting: Safe Social Media (Grades 7-10)

Get the Facts: Suicide Prevention (Grades 8-12)

Dating: Avoiding the Danger Zone (Grades 9-12)

Social Emotional Smarts (Grades 9-12)

BOTVIN LifeSkills Training High School (Grades 9-10)

BOTVIN LifeSkills Training Transitions (Grades 11-12)

Bullying: Imbalance of Power (Grades 11-12)

McMillen Health's mission is to provide vital, effective preventive health education that promotes physical, emotional, and social well-being. McMillen Health fulfills its mission by providing fact based preventive health education and by promoting responsibility in health choices and decision making. Annually, more than 90,000 students nationwide benefit from this vital education. For more information visit www.mcmillenhealth.org