Offering a lifeline to struggling teens
Boys & Girls Club of Central Ohio started youth suicide prevention program in 2019
Children play at the Boys & Girl Clubs’ Reeb Avenue Center. A recent study from Nationwide Children’s Hospital found that suicide among Black teens ages 15 to 17 increased by 4.9% between 2003 and 2017.
Lisa, a 16-year-old high school sophomore, had long battled with anxiety but had learned to keep her struggles to herself.
Whether due to stigma surrounding mental health, or her own predilection for privacy, the teen was resistant to the idea of opening up, of being vulnerable.
That began to change, however, when Lisa (who asked that The Dispatch not to publish her last name to protect her privacy) went through a fledgling mental health program offered at the Boys & Girls Clubs of Central Ohio through a partnership with Nationwide Children’s Hospital. Though it’s called the Youth Suicide Prevention Program, leaders say it’s beneficial for any young person struggling with mental health, even if they have not reported suicidal ideation.
For Lisa, those walls began to come down as she realized her anxiety didn’t make her weak or alone, and as she recognized that help was available.
“I don’t like to really show my emotions, but I’m starting to do that more,” Lisa said. “I’m very open and willing to say: ‘It’s OK to say that this happened.’”
The program was first implemented in 2019 at a Boys & Girls Club in Greater Columbus, and facets of it are now being adopted across the country through the Boys & Girls Clubs of America.
Its genesis and growth come at a time when concern is growing nationwide about the climbing rate of youth suicide, particularly among minority groups.
A recent study from Nationwide Children’s Hospital found that suicide among Black teens ages 15 to 17 increased by 4.9% between 2003 and 2017.
And a May study by the LGBTQ suicide prevention nonprofit The Trevor Project found that 45% of LGBTQ youth had seriously considered attempting suicide in the past year, while LGBTQ youth of color reported higher rates of suicidal ideation than their white peers.
“It’s terrifying, quite frankly, and we have to continue to remind ourselves that when we see these statistics, those are young people, not just numbers,” said Doug Wolf, CEO of Boys & Girls Clubs of Central Ohio. “It’s kids who should be smiling and having fun and playing with their friends.”
Wolf saw the need for such a program in 2018 when within the course of a month, three youth club members disclosed suicidal ideation to staff members. The children were able to get the help they needed, but Wolf was alarmed and wondered what more could be done to help other kids at the clubs suffering in silence.
“Statistically we know there are many more kids struggling with this,” Wolf said. “We know there’s more young people experiencing these challenges and we know we’ll experience this again.”
Wolf reached out to Dr. John Ackerman, a child clinical psychologist who serves as the clinical manager for the Center for Suicide Prevention and Research at Nationwide Children’s Hospital. While suicide prevention programs are common in schools and clinical settings, the two discussed the lack of such programming for out-of-school programs such as the Boy & Girls Clubs.
Ackerman and his team went to work to develop an evidence-based program, working primarily with the Ohio Alliance of Boys & Girls Clubs.
“Let’s not wait for a crisis, let’s not wait until we have a youth hospitalized with a behavioral health emergency,” Ackerman said. “Let’s give kids the tools to talk about their mental health in a way that beats the curve.”
After securing $100,000 from Boys & Girls Clubs of America in 2018, a pilot program was started the following year at the South Side clubhouse. As the program spread to other clubs in Greater
Columbus, the Ohio Alliance of Boys & Girls Clubs received $540,000 in May 2020 from the Ohio Suicide Prevention Foundation to expand it across the state.
The program includes an annual “gatekeeper” training to help the staff identify suicidal thoughts and ideation among young people, positioning them to intervene when a child is in crisis.
Staff are also trained in how to implement a youth program in which they work with primarily teenagers. By providing an environment where young people feel safe to talk freely, the goal is for them to learn to identify signs of mental health struggles and suicidal thoughts in both themselves and their peers. They also learn coping mechanisms to help manage their emotions.
“Each child develops their own personal coping plan whether they’re in crisis or not,” Ackerman said “When kids let their guard down, they’re hanging out, they’re very comfortable being themselves in this space.”
Lisa partook in the youth program at the J. Ashburn Jr. Youth Center clubhouse on The Hilltop. The teen said that the program equipped her with the tools to not only recognize her own mental health struggles and how to manage them, but how to recognize it in her friends.
“Some kids don’t really recognize their anxiety or depression,” Lisa said. “But it’s real and I’m glad they did it because it’s making kids recognize their emotions and that it’s OK to be emotional.”
This year, the Boys & Girls Clubs of America announced that the gatekeeper training for staff members is being adapted at its clubs nationally and will be available in both self-guided digital learning courses and facilitated sessions. It’s part of the organization’s wider aim to train all staff in suicide prevention practices and create partnerships to help streamline access to mental health services for all youth, families, and staff, said Kate Endries, national director of traumainformed practice for the Boys & Girls Clubs of America. “It is critical that we get this important and lifesaving information in the hands of as many Boys & Girls Clubs professionals as possible,” Endries said. “Our youth show up as their whole selves and share their lives and stories with us; our staff must be equipped to respond in times of celebration and in times of crisis.”