Adolescent suicides rising at alarming rate

STAMFORD — It can be triggered by a death in the family, a sexual assault or domestic violence. But sometimes it’s much more subtle, from classroom stress to an identity crisis.

Children and teens suffering from a variety of mental health issues are increasingly resorting to suicide, a federal report shows. But while there has been an increase in mental health services and a more open dialogue about suicide prevention in recent years, today’s school-age children are exposed to a myriad of risk factors.

“It’s getting much worse,” said Teresa Piliouras, who runs a college and career readiness program at the Academy of Information, Technology and Engineering in Stamford.

On top of traumatic experiences children may bring from home, students face additional challenges in school, including “a relentless pace of learning” and the constant pressure for good grades and getting into an elite college, Piliouras said. Cyberbullying and a shortage of child and adolescent psychiatrists are among several other factors that local experts say make the problem worse.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released alarming figures this month. The agency found that suicide is now the leading cause of death among children 10 to 14 years old, surpassing motor vehicle crashes for the first time. In fact, the suicide rate for that age group doubled from 2007 to 2014, according to the CDC.

Mental health professionals in Fairfield County are not surprised. Last year, 13 percent of Connecticut high school students seriously considered attempting suicide and 10 percent attempted suicide at least once, according to the Child Guidance Center of Southern Connecticut.

“It’s really become quite a prevalent problem facing adolescents in our communities,” said Jessica Welt, clinical director for the center, which this year has served more than 3,300 children in Stamford, Greenwich, New Canaan and Darien.

Stamford has had one teen suicide this year — AITE junior Evan Hyman, who died in January.

More Information Worried for yourself or someone else? Crisis intervention service: Call 211, a toll-free, confidential service available 24/7 that includes mobile psychiatric services Crisis text line: Text 741-741 National suicide prevention lifeline: Call 1-800-273-Talk

It was the first youth suicide in the city since fall 2013, when two high school students took their own lives.

“It’s sporadic, but one is far too many,” Stamford Police Capt. Richard Conklin said.

Preventative measures

The deaths in 2013 led the Stamford Board of Education to hire the Child Health Development Institute to conduct a mental health audit of the district. The audit found the district’s services were too heavily focused on crisis management, instead of prevention.

The district has since launched several initiatives to tackle mental health in the schools.

A major initiative is known as CBITS, or Cognitive Behavioral Intervention for Trauma in School, which was implemented last year in nine of the city’s schools. The trauma-focused, group intervention sessions use cognitive-behavioral techniques such as relaxation, social problem solving and cognitive restructuring.

“We have a lot of kids who are very, very stressed, who are dealing with all kinds of problems,” said Joe O’Callaghan, head social worker for Stamford Public Schools.

O’Callaghan said the program helps students understand some of the things they experience and exposes staff to greater professional development and support. The district trained 50 mental health employees in CBITS last year.

Poverty and language barriers are two common risk factors among Stamford students. More than half of the students in the city’s public schools are considered economically disadvantaged and about 16 percent are English language learners, according to the most recent enrollment figures.

Piliouras, an educator and consultant who runs the Best We Can Be program at AITE and at Norwalk High School, said many of the teens who participated in the after-school initiative last year suffered from severe depression. The program is focused on exploring college and career options, but it also works on building confidence and self-awareness.

Stress and anxiety are so widespread that it’s not uncommon for students to have panic attacks before a test.

“They don’t have good coping strategies and they can have things at home that just add to it,” Piliouras said.

’Public shaming experience’

Despite tougher laws and school policies, cyberbullying remains a serious problem.

Aaron Krasner, unit chief of the Adolescent Transitional Living Program at Silver Hill Hospital in New Canaan, said the Internet maximizes the impact of a bullying episode.

“What used to be an incident at school has become a public shaming experience,” he said.

Krasner also believes many psychiatric illnesses are going untreated. He said a shortage of child and adolescent psychiatrists, low reimbursement rates for this age group as well as a reluctance to prescribe drugs to youths since the creation of the black box warnings about a decade ago have created “impediments to accessing appropriate intervention for youth.”

Krasner, who’s also an assistant professor of clinical psychiatry at Yale School of Medicine, worries that access to such care may become even more difficult if President-elect Donald Trump succeeds in repealing the Affordable Care Act, which he promised to do during his campaign. Without adequate treatment, Krassner said, “the door for adverse outcomes swings wide open.”

As mental health professionals and educators fight to reduce mental health problems among children and teens, they urge anyone who’s experiencing a hard time to seek help. When in school, students should voice their concerns to guidance counselors, social workers or a psychologist.

noliveira@hearstmediact.com, 203-964-2265, @olivnelson