The way adults use young people dying by suicide as a deflector or to push a more conservative agenda makes me sick to my stomach.

As a former suicidal teenager, I really did not need more awareness. I needed access to therapy that was best-suited for me, and who could give concrete ways to talk myself out of crisis mode. Other kids need social workers and a working foster care system.

It also isn't right to ask teens to bear the responsibility of protecting their peers. You don't text your friend to give you stitches or a root canal. Adults need to treat teenagers with respect and stop minimizing their problems. To protect teens you have to listen to them.