While the following information was written for Health Care Providers, much of the information can be helpful for school counselors in assessing students for suicide risk.
The Department of Health Care Services and Public Health and The Office of California Surgeon General have reached out because of the concern about COVID 19 epidemic's immediate and long-term impacts on the mental health of California's residents. They have published a letter offering guidelines to screen, intervene and prevent incidents of suicide.
There is no way to know if someone is in trouble unless you ask. When you ask, there are tools and resources that can be offered to save a life.
The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) developed the Ask Suicide-Screening Questions (ASQ), four questions in 20 seconds to identify people at risk for suicide. In a NIMH study, a "yes" response to one or more questions identified 97% of youth aged 10-21 at risk of suicide:
- In the past few weeks, have you wished you were dead?
- In the past few weeks, have you felt that you or your family would be better off if you were dead?
- In the past few weeks, have you been having thought about killing yourself?
- Have you ever tried to kill yourself?
If an individual responds "yes" to one or more of the four Ask Suicide-Screening questions, they are at risk and should be immediately referred for more care. A list of county mental health departments with phone numbers can be found at this link.
For the national suicide prevention 24 hours hotline, call 800-273-8255 or text 838255.
For more information contained in the letter visit this link, which includes a list of support resources.
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