This article by @EricaLG highlights the need to consider the role schools can play in preventing suicide. However, school reopening as a suicide prevention strategy presents a lot of concerns (1/5) https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/24/us/politics/student-suicides-nevada-coronavirus.html?smtyp=cur&smid=fb-nytimes&fbclid=IwAR3o9s-qX_nfiwUqc70DHDsmr6XDBy-C7MWDVrarTxHfpfDLf6Ofudp8e8U

Most schools lacked needed mental health resources before the pandemic. As a result, few are equipped to deal with the added stressors brought on by the pandemic, stressors that tend to hit hardest in communities that already experienced the effects of discrimination.(2/5)

Assuming that reopening schools will solve the problem of youth suicide in the midst of a pandemic is akin to thinking that sending one person to plug all the holes in a crumbling dam will prevent its collapse. (3/5)

What is needed to address concerns about youth suicide during the pandemic is a comprehensive and coordinated approach of which schools are an integral (but not sufficient) part. School reopening plans should include health, justice, and social services among other sectors. (4/5)

If we establish the infrastructure needed to effectively collaborate across sectors during this pandemic, we could move beyond the pandemic better positioned to #BuildBackBetter rather than simply trying to return to a normal that wasn’t great to begin with for many kids (5/5)