“Lauryn’s Law” to prevent student suicides
Suicide is the third leading cause of death in kids ages 10 to 24 and 4,600 young lives are lost each year across the country. But now a bill titled “Lauryn’s Law”, which is awaiting the Governor’s signature in the state of Maryland, could combat these devastating figures.
“Lauryn’s Law” is named after 15-year-old Lauryn Santiago of Prince George’s County. When Lauryn’s mother, Linda Diaz, suspected her daughter was depressed, she asked Lauryn’s school counselor to meet with her, but that meeting never happened. A month later Diaz found her daughter had taken her own life, hanging from a bannister in their home.
In an effort to prevent something like this from happening to other teens Lauryn’s mother worked with state legislators on “Lauryn’s Law”, which would ensure that all guidance counselors receive proper suicide prevention training.
Supervisor of Student Services at Dorchester County, Dr. James Bell, tells 47 ABC that they are aware of “Lauryn’s Law” but they’re now working on their own initiative to help at risk young people in the school district.
Dr. Bell tells 47 ABC, “Obviously we want to make sure we get them to a proper mental health professional.”
Cambridge School District has an initiative called “Project Aware” which aims to have all school district staff trained in mental health and first aid. This is a a partnership between the Maryland Department of Education and Samsung.
Dr. Bell tells 47 ABC, “We’re not trying to have our educators be mental health professionals what we’re trying to do is equip them to identify signs so that way they can get that student to a mental professional.” Dr. Bell says they are hoping “Lauryn’s Law” passes but they aren’t holding their breath. Dorchester county schools are looking to implement “Project Aware” by next year.
Dr. Bell tells 47 ABC, “When you’re talking legislation that more or less gives it that exclamation point to say hey we need to do it right now.”
This is not the first time that the push for suicide prevention training has been discussed. Dr. Bell tells 47 ABC, “We’ve had conversations about this for several years. I think what you see is that a lot of school systems need the financial resources in order to be able to accomplish it.”
Luckily Dr. Bell says Dorchester has the funding to start training teachers by 2016. The district also uses something called a “mobile crisis team” which is based in both Dorchester and Somerset counties. This regional service allows anyone to make a phone call to receive help and representatives are sent out to schools as well as homes.
