LIHU‘E — Suicide is the third leading cause of death for people ages 10 to 24, according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention. Though it is a topic typically relegated to the background and thought of as taboo,
LIHU‘E — Suicide is the third leading cause of death for people ages 10 to 24, according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention.
Though it is a topic typically relegated to the background and thought of as taboo, “it’s happening and we need to be up front about it,” said Kathy Morishige of the Kaua‘i High School Peer Education Program.
Morishige’s PEP class — an elective that students can sign up to attend — deals with a number of teenage issues, such as the consequences of sex, drugs and alcohol abuse, as well as suicide.
“Suicide is a tough one because it’s an issue people are afraid to talk about,” she said. “There’s an idea that talking about it is sensationalizing it.”
While it may bring up unpleasant thoughts, that may be necessary to reach students who are in despair, she said.
“When kids see how many people are hopeless, maybe that’s not a good thing, but in a way it is because they see there are a lot of kids who have those feelings,” she said. It could drive home the message that there is “someplace that is safe for you to go or someone you can talk to.”
The PEP passed out information at the school’s GLO celebration May 12, which dealt with spotting warning signs.
“We tend to want to blame ourselves,” she said. “Why didn’t we know? Why didn’t we help? In our program, we realize everyone makes a decision in his or her own life for what they choose, so trying to find out whys in not the approach. We’re looking for getting students to become aware and how to cope.”
The program comes at the issue from different angles, with one goal being how to create a positive environment for all students. Shortly after Valentine’s Day, they did a unit called “Raiders have heart,” in which participants simply did something kind every day for other students.
“There are some people who feel nobody cares about them,” Morishige said.
Another message the class tries to advance is that an individual is not as alone as they may feel in any given moment.
“Life is not about me,” she said, expressing one of the program’s messages. “Each choice I make has far-reaching ramifications on the lives of other people.”
To further this idea, her students did a project on graduation night showing their peers how to make a beaded key chain, where each bead represents someone special in their lives.
Morishige said that one hindrance to the program has been the reduced class time due to this year’s statewide budget cuts.
“We’ve had such a lack of time with the furloughs,” she said. “We didn’t get around to doing half of what we wanted to do. We wanted to be able to target the middle school, that transition, trying to find out who you are. … That might be one of the most tumultuous times in kids’ lives.”
The PEP class gets into specific ways to deal with knowledge or suspicion that a friend or fellow student is contemplating taking their own life. Keeping that information a secret is not an option, she said.
“We tell the kids that they need to let someone know, no matter what,” she said. “We let them know that it really is better to lose the friend temporarily than to lose them permanently.”
While Morishige thinks that her class invites passionate students who are open to conversations and projects that can better the student body as a whole, there are still plenty of kids who may not be getting that same attention. A large number might not know what their options are if they feel helpless or hopeless.
“I don’t know if enough of them do (know where to turn),” she said. “If they just tell their peers, they might not be equipped. We try to get the word out but I think it’s not enough, unfortunately. My students are lucky… But I think we need to, in general, get that word out that there is help.”
What students should be aware of, she said, is that PEP is one program they can always utilize. She also expressed her pleasure that Kaua‘i has groups and individuals willing to organize and mobilize on an issue like suicide, without letting it linger in the darkness.
“I feel very blessed to be living on an island like this where we do have groups and to be able to work closely with Gina (Kaulukukui, chair of the Hawai‘i Suicide Prevention Task Force),” she said. “We are trying to work together for the sake of the community. On other islands, I think their collaboration is more difficult.”
Judy Cano of the Waimea High School Parent Community Networking Center said this year her group was able to use funds that came down through the department of education to have a motivational speaker and show a movie dealing with teenage suicide and the after-effects.
“It was well-attended, which was very good,” she said. “Sometimes for these events, no one shows up.”
The school had the one night dealing with suicide, then another dealing with pregnancy prevention. Cano said she was happy to see not just the parents and children attending both nights, but that not the same parent necessarily came for each event.
“Because it was successful, we will definitely be doing something like that again,” she said.
• David Simon, sports writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 237) or by e-mailing dsimon@kauaipubco.com.
