Santa Monica advocated for those silently struggling with mental health and thoughts of suicide to reach out for assistance this month.
Mental anguish turned into unfortunate action, suicide claims more than 40,000 American lives each year, with suicide rates steadily increasing in the country amidst constant stressors impacting all ages. To alleviate the pressures on mental health, Santa Monica officials recognized Suicide Prevention Month in September, including a proclamation from City Council on the topic.
"It is important to speak openly about mental health and the impacts of suicide to prioritize the issues, decrease stigma and raise the visibility of available mental health and suicide prevention resources in our community," Mayor Phil Brock read from the proclamation.
Councilmember Gleam Davis, who brought the item forth alongside Vice Mayor Lana Negrete, thanked local organizations committed to mental health and suicide awareness, adding that her own family has been touched by the act.
"Recognizing it and talking about it is the most important thing we can do in order to prevent it," Davis said.
Davis then handed the microphone over to Bridget McCarthy, co-chair of the Santa Monica Out of the Darkness Walk that takes place Oct. 19 at the Pier. The community walk returns for 2024 as a fundraiser for the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention and local education on mental health issues.
McCarthy also felt a loss in her family on Sept. 16, 2020, when her son, Samohi student Riley Chart, committed suicide. Since that time, she has been a prominent mental health advocate, helping coordinate the walk each year.
"We’ve lost too many, so on behalf of all those we’ve lost to suicide … thank you for this," McCarthy said of her opportunity to speak to council about the walk.
Suicide particularly hits America’s youth, as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported that in 2023, the act was the second leading cause of death for ages 10-14, and the third leading cause of death for ages 15-19. Council’s recommendation to use the 988 mental health hotline is a message also passed along by Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District, as the district attempts to alleviate youth stressors.
Another tool students can access virtually is SMMUSD’s ongoing partnership with Hazel Health. The telehealth service, funded by the Los Angeles County Office of Education (LACOE), matches students up with a licensed therapist that can be met at home or during school hours if necessary.
This is the second year of the Hazel rollout, with SMMUSD Mental Health Counseling Coordinator Shuli Lotan stating the service has done away with its 6-8 session limit, a "very welcome change" to give students a longer-term therapy option. Adding that kids are "pretty comfortable behind the screen," Lotan said that parents are taking more advantage of the service this year by referring their children.
As kids return to school this year, Lotan’s plate is full once more, overseeing partnerships with agencies in the community that provide everything from Tier 1 prevention services (district-wide mental health campaigns) and classroom workshops on mental health-related topics, to group and individual counseling services.
"We have a pretty nice array of services, and we really try to make sure that any kid who needs something, we can either help them find it here at school, or in the community, if they or their parents prefer that to be in the community," Lotan said.
Another part of her job is to help facilitate mandated trainings for school site staffs on recognizing symptoms of depression and suicide, stating that when looking for them, staff must look for changes in a student’s behavior. This can range from somatic symptoms like frequent headaches and stomach aches to irritability and mood shifts.
"If you have a kid who is typically happy go-lucky, and all of a sudden they are crying a lot, have their head down, not engaged, expressing that they don't care about an activity that they used to really love, that’s a huge sign," Lotan said.
Part of district risk screenings with students experiencing symptoms associated with suicide is to ask "clarifying questions" to gauge how deep in the thought process someone is.
"It’s a pretty common thing to think about death, even as a child like I think most humans have that thought at some point," Lotan added. "What would the world be like without me, or who would come to my funeral, or things like that. We don’t want to normalize that, but we want to really help kids distinguish. Is this just a thought, or do you actually have intent to hurt yourself and [have] a plan to do so?"
At school sites, wellness spaces are continually updated as spaces for either counseling or just taking a breath before the next class. Along with those spaces, students are able to participate in group sessions, ranging from social skills for elementary schoolers to building coping mechanisms in high school. A special group is also put together for 9th graders to aid in the transition to high school.
Group sessions can be flexible, though, and can be created for anything students feel they need to talk about with trusted companions.
"You want to kind of get kids around the same age range who have gone through a similar thing or having a similar issue into a small group, and [it] helps them kind of see, I’m not the only one," Lotan said.
thomas@smdp.com
