When the Lake County Suicide Prevention Coalition started brainstorming ways to teach younger teens about depression symptoms, suicide warning signs, and resources, one thing was clear from the get-go. “We felt that the exact wrong thing to do was to lecture the kids, or make them sit through a PowerPoint,” said Coalition Chair Rae Grady. “What evolved was this notion that older students might be effective in helping us deliver this information to younger students.”
Grady, along with fellow Suicide Prevention Coalition members Greg Markell and Tandra Rutledge, began to noodle on the concept of a teen peer-to-peer suicide prevention and depression awareness group.
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“We decided to explore the possibility of a pilot project with one of the school systems,” Grady said. “Mentor was our first choice, because we had done a system-wide suicide prevention program for them last year, and had great working relationships with some of their key people. They were enthusiastic partners from the first phone call.”
The Birth of GAHTAH
The Suicide Prevention Coalition is funded by the Lake County Alcohol, Drug Addiction and Mental Health Services (ADAMHS) Board. It is headquartered at Crossroads, an ADAMHS agency that focuses on children and families. The group offers free programs to educators, civic clubs, school and church organizations, businesses, and other groups. Presentations stress the connection between depressive illness and suicidal thinking, depression symptoms, warning signs, dos and don’ts, and resources.
Grady explains that the Coalition’s overriding goal is a simple one. “We want to save lives,” she says. “The sad fact is that suicide is often a preventable death. If more Lake Countians know what depressive illness looks like and understand what to do if they see warning signs in a friend, we can reduce the numbers of these tragic deaths. Teens and young adults are among the most vulnerable — suicide is the number three killer of 15 – 24 year olds in America today. That’s a very scary statistic.”
Suicide is the number three killer of 15 – 24 year olds in America today. That’s a very scary statistic.
Which brings us back to GAHTAH. The acronym stands for “Give A Hand Take A Hand”. It’s a group of eight Mentor High students — six seniors and two juniors — who comprise the pilot peer-to-peer program that Grady and her team began to envision last year. The GAHTAH (pronounced “gotta”) students have been working with adult supervisors — Grady, Markell, and Rutledge from the Suicide Prevention Coalition, plus Mentor High School Counselors Pam Goss and Lisa Newman. The students will begin presentations to 9th and 10th graders in February.
The core GAHTAH messages are the same as those in Coalition presentations to adults, but with one important addition. “GAHTAH’s primary objective is to help kids understand how serious depressive illness can be and urge them to take action if they notice symptoms in themselves or others,” explains Grady. “So our number-one message is that if you’re worried about yourself or a friend, tell a responsible adult immediately. Not tomorrow, not next week — now.”
GAHTAH will use skits as the delivery strategy for its important information payload. The performances will be interactive, involving audience members in ways that will help drive the message home. “One of the great things about the students in our pilot program is their diversity,” notes GAHTAH supervisor Pam Goss. “We have some athletes, some performers, some quieter more introspective types, and some who are very bubbly and assertive. It’s been terrific to see this group coalesce into a team, and it’s wonderful that we have such a broad range of talents and assets to draw on.”
And the GAHTAH name? That tumbled from a brainstorming session with the teens according to Goss. “The adults have been guiding the process, but it’s the eight students who have been doing much of the core decision-making,” she said. “They’ve worked hard, they’ve processed and nurtured ideas together, and they’ve got a good plan. We’re excited that this is now just about ready to launch.”
Grady adds that the Suicide Prevention Coalition wants to take the GAHTAH concept into other area schools. “We started with a pilot program so we could work the kinks out and build a template, but we think this is a creative and sensible way to improve awareness among younger teens throughout Lake County,” she said.
More information on Lake County’s ADAMHS network is available at www.HelpThatWorks.us. |
