‘Give them a voice;’ Coalition aiming to bring awareness, prevent youth suicide

A local coalition is working to spread awareness and prevent youth suicide and mental health crises.

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As reported on News Center 7 at 5:30 p.m., September is suicide prevention month, and the Montgomery County Prevention Coalition is working to help prevent rising youth suicide rates.

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One person takes their own life every 11 minutes in the U.S, according to the CDC,

“It used to be a very private conversation that no one wanted to discuss openly,” Dayton resident, Toni Alexander said. “There’s no secret to mental health. we all suffer with some time of something each and every day.”

Amanda Schroeder is a counselor and advisor at Northmont High School, she was honored as the Montgomery County Prevention Coalition’s Advisor of the Year.

“I saw a lot of students and youth struggling with mental health and I wanted to give them a voice,” Schroeder said. “I like to create spaces that they can have those conversations and we can figure out ways to bring prevention.”

Schroeder views her job as just to facilitate the conversation and let the students say what they need. Her most important job is listening.

“They just want a place to feel heard and I think with being an adult... just be present in their life and hear them out,” Schroeder said.

It’s work that comes as kids across the country face a mental health crisis.

“Right now, suicide and suicidal ideation is the number 2 cause of death for youth. So it’s certainly a concern for a lot of our schools,” Colleen Oaks, the manager of Montgomery County Prevention Coalition said.

The coalition turned to students and those connected to them like Schroeder to figure out ways to bring that number down.

They fund leadership programs so students can take the charge in preventing youth suicide.

“We help them strategically plan, we train them and then they implement the programs in their schools that they think will help best,” Oaks said.

The idea is to spread awareness of the resources out there like 988 the suicide and crisis lifeline.

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