Schools set protocols for improving mental health

When Noxon and Hot Springs schools experienced the loss of three young citizens who died by suicide last fall, the communities scrambled to deal with the grief as best they could. Two male teens in Noxon passed away within months of each other and one male teen in Hot Springs. Before anyone could ask the question why, the first response was to take care of those who were the most affected by that loss.

According to the Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services, suicide rates among youth ages 11 to 17 in Montana were double the national rate between 2011 and 2020. This is an annual suicide rate of 14 per 100,000. Males complete suicide at a rate four times that of females. However females attempt suicide three times more often than males. The Department of Health and Human Services (DPHHS) reports that in 2020, 581 children between ages 10-14 completed suicide in the U.S. Montana suicide rates are going up as the ages of children committing suicide or attempting suicide keep going down, according to DPHHS. They report the youngest suicide in the U.S. at age eight.

Noxon School Counselor Lucas MacArthur said the recent incidents have brought in a lot of support from people wanting to help. “The outpouring of love came from all different directions,” MacArthur stated. “This has created a positive response to a sad situation. The Lima school sent their football team to Noxon to play another game in honor of the seniors and to show their support.”

The school brought in resources to help with the grieving process. The county gave counsel so students had a place to go if they needed emotional support. A local pastor came to the Noxon school and spoke with students, MacArthur said.

Thompson Falls High School Principal Jodi Morgan provided two special informational assemblies at the high school in the fall of 2023 to help students of Sanders County in the healing process and educate students on how to deal with social situations regarding drugs and bullying. The first assembly, held Oct. 30, was conducted by John Parker from People 1st. Parker is a motivational speaker from Great Falls who spoke to students about dealing with peer pressure and bullying. He gave information on coping tools and understanding their own stressors. The second assembly, on Nov. 21, was conducted by Pete Hall, who offered information on the same issues as Parker and added more audience participation. Principal Morgan said the students seemed to really like him, and the student council requested him to be their second speaker.

Thompson Falls invited all schools in the county to attend the presentations. Hot Springs and Plains sent junior high and high school students to the first assembly. Elementary students did not attend from any of the schools in Sanders County.

Not all schools chose to attend the presentations offered by Thompson Falls. Noxon School Superintendent Dave Whitesell commented that he did not feel the school was ready to attend the assemblies at that time.

“We appreciated the invitation, but it was too soon for the majority of our students,” he explained. However, Whitesell said his staff has been working on training from OPI and that in the past, the school has done QPR training. “It’s like CPR for mental health. It means ‘Question, Persuade, and Refer.’” According to Whitesell, there has been pushback by the community associated with the stigmatization of discussing the issues surrounding suicide. He hopes to change thinking to the idea that it is not bad to ask kids if they are contemplating suicide.

“There are so many dynamics to consider,” Whitesell said in regard to community response and support.

Plains Superintendent Dr. Kathleen Walsh said there are community dynamics to consider in her perspective as well. The Plains school has taken a new approach to mental health issues through a program called Care Solace, whose motto is “calming the chaos of mental health care.”

“Because we have a shortage of counseling staff in our school, we thought this program would be the best solution for the families of students and staff members,” Walsh said. The online program is free and allows members of the school community to connect to the resources they need while ensuring their privacy. It provides full case management with data on the mental health needs of the school community, according to Walsh.

Plains Principal Kevin Meredith said he thinks the program will be effective as it offers a “warm handoff” aspect for staff members to submit referrals. The company navigates the mental health care system and provides school staff with real-time updates on the progress of each referral. “We don’t have decision-making authority, but we can keep tabs on the progress while maintaining the students’ anonymity,” Meredith said.

Thompson Falls High School counselor Rob Christensen said he would like to see a county-wide suicide prevention protocol. “I went to a multi-tiered system of support (MTSS) conference in Helena that taught the implementation of the Rural Behavioral Health Institute from Livingston.” Their mission is to reduce suicide among youth by building a school-based mental health system, according to their website. They state that suicide is the second leading cause of death among Montana’s youth. “This program would offer a tiered system of support. All schools would benefit from this, depending on what they already have in place. Consistency is important with the level of care being equal across the board,” Christensen said.

Hot Springs Superintendent Gerald Chouinard said that in a crisis situation, the first step is to have the school’s emergency crisis team get together and plan the next several days. School districts county wide support one another.

“There is an automatic protocol where others reach out to you to offer support,” Chouinard said. “If trauma isn’t dealt with, it creates harm not only to that student but to the community as well.” Chouinard explained that in his experience, when a child falls under the radar, their trauma will show itself at some point. “There are several things folks won’t talk about. They have the old-school philosophy that it will go away because ‘we never had a problem when I was young,’ etc. I can see the effects of childhood trauma in children that grew up with it. If we had been aware early on we could have prevented some of the hardships,” he stated. “Some people do not want to talk about the issues surrounding mental health. Mental health tends to be one of those things we can’t see, so it may not be recognized but manifests in many ways if not dealt with.”

As to the question of why these suicides happened, Noxon counselor MacArthur said that there have been rumors and speculations that bullying may have been a factor in the most recent incident, but as far as he knew, bullying was not involved. Moving forward, Noxon school has faculty members taking suicide awareness training and trauma courses through the Office of Public Instruction (OPI), McArthur concluded.

Kayla Torres with the Sanders County Coalition for Families said she would like to see more open communication about mental health, especially in the schools. “School administrations do not always understand what the kids are going through or what they are holding in,” she stated, adding that it is important to give kids grace and a safe place. “There are a lot more issues today that children are dealing with such as self esteem, drugs, cellphones, family dynamics, and a lot less parental support at school events. Often there is nobody in their corner, no one to talk to who can relate to the issues of drugs, suicide or becoming a bully. The people who are bullying are suffering, too.”

Torres goes to schools around the county to talk with students. Currently she goes to Noxon and Thompson Falls high schools to visit with girls during their lunch break on a weekly basis. The girls learn how to express themselves and raise their self esteem. Torres uses art for self expression. “I want to expand these activities to the other high schools and elementary schools as well,” she said. She recently went to Red Lodge for training on the Power Up Speak Out program. Torres is hoping to take this program into the Dixon school next fall. It will help boys and girls, Torres said, with self esteem. “It will help children be well versed for conflict resolution.”

Deputy Devon Wegener from the Sanders County Sheriff’s Office said he goes to the Dixon school on a regular basis and has developed a rapport with the students. His idea is to be there for the kids and help them feel safe. “I have had kids tell me that an adult tried selling them drugs,” he said. He hopes being involved in the community will help kids throughout their lives and improve their chances of staying away from drugs and issues that cause suicide, Wegener said.

“Nationally, there has been an uptick in suicides,” said Sanders County Sheriff Shawn Fielders, but overall “not as bad in Sanders County.” Fielders said that the schools need more outreach involvement with the kids regarding drugs, social media and bullying. “Bottom line, our budget limits us. The schools need to take part.” He recommends that students speak out and take charge in situations that they are aware of instead of ignoring issues or not talking about them with adults. Sheriff Fielders said drugs are an issue that his department is aggressively pursuing. “I could go to the schools and ask the students, ‘Who is selling drugs?’ But they wouldn’t tell,” he said. “The communities are our eyes and ears.”

The saying “It takes a village to raise a child” is more relevant today than ever. School administrators have said they want more positive actions implemented in the schools to prevent further mental health-related tragedies in their school communities. They concur that one suicide or attempted suicide is one too many. Parker said we need to bring awareness to the school communities across the county and state. “Kids need to know they matter,” Parker stated.