The Littleton community knew it had a problem in the fall of 2004, when two students from Heritage High School committed suicide in separate incidents. At the same time, Littleton Adventist Hospital was reporting as many as four youths a day – some as young as 6 years old – being brought to its emergency department after failed suicide attempts.
Unlike some communities, where suicide is seen as a shameful thing to be spoken about only in whispers, the city of Littleton, Littleton Public Schools and the Greater Littleton Youth Initiative stepped forward to aggressively address the issue. The initiative, which was founded after the tragic shootings at Columbine, is a nonprofit focusing on proven programs that enhance the healthy development of young people.
Kay Wilmesher, research analyst for the city of Littleton, provides staff support for the initiative. She says the community focused on two suicide prevention programs that are widely used in other states: Yellow Ribbon Suicide Prevention and Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training (ASIST).
Yellow Ribbon provides education about the warning signs that someone is suicidal and what to do about it (stay with the person, listen and get help). The program distributes cards featuring a yellow ribbon that can be used to ask for help. Training, which takes just an hour, is provided to groups (schools, organizations, faith communities) to raise overall awareness of a difficult topic.
ASIST, in contrast, has been described as “suicide CPR.” ASIST volunteers are trained to assess the seriousness of a suicide threat. Questions asked of the troubled person include, “Do you have a plan to commit suicide? Have you tried to hurt yourself before? Do you have a weapon? Is your family aware of your feelings? Do you have anyone who can help you?”
If a threat is serious, the volunteers know how to refer the troubled person for help. Although anyone can volunteer for the two-day ASIST training, in the case of school-based programs, those trained are typically people who work with youths, such as teachers, counselors and coaches.
With Heritage High School’s students, faculty and staff shaken by the student suicides, Principal Ken Moritz stepped forward to offer the school as a pilot project for training in both prevention programs. By the end of February of this year, 17 Heritage school personnel and five community members had been trained in ASIST. In addition, 1,700 students, plus faculty, staff and some community members underwent Yellow Ribbon training in an all-school assembly at Heritage. Wilmesher says the effect of the assembly was electric: “There was no goofing around. The kids sat quiet and still for the full hour,” she says.
Moritz says he likes the message of the Yellow Ribbon training, which is, “If you’re hurt or struggling, it’s OK to ask for help.”
Wilmesher says the Yellow Ribbon card makes it easier to seek help because “it can be handed to someone without having to put feelings into words.”
The idea of the card sounds simple – so simple that one might wonder if it works. But Heritage High can attest to its effectiveness. From the last week in February, when Yellow Ribbon training was held, until the third week in May, when school let out, an average of one student each week turned in a card asking for help with depression or suicidal thoughts.
The results from the pilot at Heritage were so positive that Littleton High School and all three alternative education programs in the district will establish training in 2006.
Littleton Adventist Hospital is also partnering with the initiative to prevent suicides. It is offering Yellow Ribbon and ASIST training to everyone on its staff. It will also donate $150,000 over three years to ensure that suicide-prevent programs continue at Littleton Public Schools.
In the future, Wilmesher says, you can look for Littleton to undergo communitywide training. As she says, “Our goal is to have the community speak one language” to prevent suicide.
