Suicide Prevention and Spreading Awareness

Suicide+Prevention+and+Spreading+Awareness

Sarah Archer

The whole month of September was dedicated to spreading awareness of a very important topic many people may be nervous to talk about, suicide. The Cougar Claw has interviewed Mrs. Robinson, from the H.O.P.E. squad to give pointers to someone who may be struggling under the radar.
She mentioned that there are many safe spaces to talk about these certain feelings right inside Kearns High School! For a start, Mrs. Robinson mentioned that there are teachers, the school psychologist, the social worker, and school counselors that students can talk to if anyone is struggling and needs a safe space to talk about these feelings.
Mrs. Robinson also said, “We can spread awareness by letting people know we are judgement free and are willing to talk about this topic.” It is very important if you are going to talk about this to be open minded, and look at it at another angle, viewing how other people see this. Suicide is a very touchy topic and it’s very important to be careful on how we approach talking about this.
In the interview, Mrs. Robinson also mentioned that there are plans to help spread awareness. November 9-16 is Hope week, which is a whole week dedicated to spreading awareness and offering the help that we may need.
The H.O.P.E. squad also has social media where you can personally reach out if they are not too comfortable talking about this in person. The H.O.P.E squad has an Instagram, where they post information about what is going on in our community and where you can reach out, @khshopesquad. During COVID isolation, with these feelings, there is also an app you can download right on your phone, called the Safe UT app. This is an app where you can reach out anonymously and get the help you need. Suicide is a very serious topic and should not be taken lightly. No one has to go through this alone.