WCPS works to prevent suicide ‘every day’

Warren County Public School (WCPS) Special Services Director Michael Hirsch (above) gives the Warren County School Board information about the ongoing suicide awareness and prevention efforts in WCPS.

Ongoing efforts are under way at Warren County Public Schools (WCPS) to help raise awareness about suicide prevention.

“Our school system is not immune to this tragedy, and we’ve placed an emphasis on mental health,” WCPS Superintendent Christopher Ballenger reported to the Warren County School Board during its Wednesday, September 7, regular meeting.

School Board Chair Kristen Pence, Vice Chair Ralph Rinaldi, and board member Andrea Lo were present. School Board members Antoinette Funk and Melanie Salins were absent.

According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), September is Suicide Prevention Awareness Month — a time to raise awareness of what remains a stigmatized, and often taboo, topic.

“We use this month to shift public perception, spread hope and share vital information to people affected by suicide,” NAMI says. “Our goal is ensuring that individuals, friends and families have access to the resources they need to discuss suicide prevention and to seek help.”

Suicidal thoughts, much like mental health conditions, may affect anyone regardless of age, gender, or background, according to NAMI, and should not be considered normal. Such thoughts often are the result of an untreated mental health condition, and many times indicate more serious issues, the organization says.

Ballenger invited WCPS Special Services Director Michael Hirsch to highlight for board members the ongoing suicide prevention awareness efforts and programs in the school division.

“Even though mental health organizations recognize September as Suicide Awareness Month, working together to develop our collective understanding of awareness of suicide in order to prevent it is done every day” in the school division, said Hirsch. “And we’ve been doing that every day.”

For instance, the WCPS Special Services staff on Thursday, September 8, worked with Skyline High School staff to go over warning signs, risk factors, protective factors, and a variety of suicide intervention strategies that are applicable for school-based personnel, Hirsch told the School Board.

“Once we get feedback from Skyline High School staff…, we’ll be offering it to all of our secondary school staff this month,” said Hirsch.

Additionally, WCPS and its Special Services division work with the Warren County Community Health Coalition — also known as the Warren Coalition — a nonprofit agency established in 1994 to help fill the gaps in health care and substance abuse awareness to the community.

The Warren Coalition began under the guidance of Warren Memorial Hospital as an outreach project but has since grown and was incorporated in 2001. Currently located in the Warren County Community Center, the coalition says it works toward making Warren County a safe, healthy, and drug-free community through the many programs it provides.

Together, the coalition and WCPS offer “a whole host of resilience activities” throughout the year, Hirsch said. Most recently, they collaborated on Rock & Stroll, a May event held at Warren County High School designed to encourage children and pre-teens to make healthy choices, and to give them reasons for those healthy choices. Hirsch said the event is now called Fun Fest, which will be held at “almost every school” in the division.

“The focus is teaching kids about resilience and pro-social coping skills, as well as helping them make good, healthy decisions,” explained Hirsch.

Hirsch (above at podium) also told School Board members (left to right at dais) Lo, Pence, and Rinaldi that WCPS counselors and administrators received “significant training” on suicide awareness and prevention at the end of the 2021-2022 school year from the Virginia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services and Northwestern Community Services.

The state department operates Virginia’s public mental health, intellectual disability, and substance abuse services system via 40 locally and regionally run community services boards, which serve children and adults who have or who are at risk of mental illness, emotional disturbance, intellectual disability, or substance use disorders.

Northwestern Community Services is a behavioral health agency with administrative offices in Front Royal, Va. The agency offers an array of outpatient, case management, day support, residential and emergency programs designed to enhance the quality of life for children and adults affected by emotional/behavioral disorders, mental illness, substance use, and intellectual disabilities and developmental disabilities.

The training will be offered again soon to new school counselors and administrators, according to Hirsch.

“Our approach to suicide prevention is not limited to the month of September,” Hirsch said. “This topic is thought about every day.”

For more information, here is a list of some resources:

• Northwestern Community Services: Information, services, and appointments may be made by calling the Warren County Clinic at 540-636-2931; the Winchester Area Clinic at 540-667-8888; the Shenandoah County Clinic at 540-459-5180; or the Page County Clinic at 540-743-4548.

• If you are experiencing a mental health emergency, call 540-635-4804 or 1-800-342-1462.

• The CONCERN Hotline: 540-635-4357 (Warren County); 540-459-4742 (Shenandoah County); and 540-667-0145 (Frederick County, Winchester, and Clarke County).

• The Substance Use Confidential Warmline: 1-833-626-1490.

• Prevention Department at the Northwestern Community Services Board: 540-459-5180, extension 3046.

• Suicide Prevention Hotline: 1-800-784-2433.

• National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 1-800-273-8255.

• NAMI Helpline: 1-800-950-6264.

Click here to watch the Warren County School Board meeting of September 7, 2022.