Suicide: Many Schools Fall Short on Prevention

By Jessica Portner

Second in a two-part series.

All schools conduct fire drills, and many have detailed plans for coping with floods, hurricanes, or earthquakes. They employ nurses to vaccinate students against diseases. These days, some even practice for the one-in-a-million chance that an armed intruder will go on a shooting spree.

But most schools are unprepared to deal with a far more common threat to their students: Suicide is the third-leading killer of 10- to 19-year-olds in the United States, yet only one in 10 schools has a plan to prevent it.

Most schools that teach suicide prevention generally opt for quick units in health class or school assemblies. Typically, they show videos of healthy-looking adolescents who have survived a suicide attempt. But psychologists warn that such an approach can do...