Suicide is a painful subject. There is so much unknown and stigmatized information when it comes to mental health that having conversations on the subject often seems scary and difficult. It isn't really something most of us feel prepared to discuss. NPR recently released an article that I found very enlightening. It is titled 6 Myths About Suicide That Every Educator and Parent Should Know (link here.) I hope that you have the opportunity to read it.
We love our students. They feel like our own children in many ways. We mourn with them, just like we celebrate with them. We know that there are wounds that can't be seen and heartbreaks we can't fix. We hope that our students will never experience tragedy but we try to help them heal when it does. This is part of teaching that you really only learn through experience. Teaching requires a tremendous amount of courage. Let's take today as an opportunity to arm ourselves with more information so that we can continue to help our students become the best version of themselves.