1 Teen Suicide Health Promotion Program I Description of Health Problem Teen suicide is a serious problem adversely affecting families, communities, and governments. According to Busby et al. (2020), suicide is the second leading cause of death in the United States among young people aged 10-24 and 25-34 years. The study established that approximately 9% of high school students have made at least one attempt to commit suicide, whereas 20% had seriously considered taking their lives. In addition, the study estimated the cost of suicide in the United States at $926 billion in loss of productivity, medical costs, and the value of statistical life. Teen suicide could be reduced significantly by integrating a prevention program into the already existing school mental health resources or systems. The Yellow Ribbon Suicide Prevention intervention will be integrated with the mental health programs in Schools to promote help-seeking behaviors. Staff members will implement the "Ask for help" training among teens. The training will last for 30 minutes and will be conducted after every seven days. In addition, teens and teachers will wear a wrist bracelet written: "It is OK to Seek Help." According to Gallo and Wachter (2022), teens are more likely to share suicidal thoughts with classmates and peers than teachers or adults. The proposed Yellow Ribbon Program (YRP) is designed to encourage and support teens' help-seeking behaviors. Vulnerable Population The youth are more vulnerable to dying by suicide than adults. In the United States, estimates reveal that about 7% of teens (adolescents) attempt suicide yearly (Vaughn et al., 2020). It was also established that at least one suicide is completed for every 100 suicidal attempts. There is an increased risk for suicide attempts among teens with a history of abuse, family discord, and negative life events; adolescents with substance abuse, general health, and mental health problems; and girls. It is noteworthy that risk factors for suicide among teens seem to be consistent with the bodily developmental changes during adolescence. The risk of suicide among teens may be increased by factors such as distress, irritability, lack of a support network, feelings of hopelessness and struggle with sexuality or gender identity. Adolescence is a time of relationships, the need for independence, and relationships, which conflicts with the expectations and rules set by others. Busby et al. (2020) suggested that mental health systems should address additional objectives, such as supporting healthy youth development. Given the high risk for suicide among the adolescent population, schools are better placed to provide early interventions to address the problem. Evidence-Based Interventions (Literature Review of Articles) One of the teen suicide prevention programs is gatekeeper training, elucidated by an article titled " Preventing Adolescent Suicide," authored by Torok et al. (2019). Ga.

1. 1
Teen Suicide Health Promotion Program I
Description of Health Problem
Teen suicide is a serious problem adversely affecting families,
communities, and governments. According to Busby et al.
(2020), suicide is the second leading cause of death in the
United States among young people aged 10-24 and 25-34 years.
The study established that approximately 9% of high school
students have made at least one attempt to commit suicide,
whereas 20% had seriously considered taking their lives. In
addition, the study estimated the cost of suicide in the United

2. States at $926 billion in loss of productivity, medical costs, and
the value of statistical life. Teen suicide could be reduced
significantly by integrating a prevention program into the
already existing school mental health resources or systems. The
Yellow Ribbon Suicide Prevention intervention will be
integrated with the mental health programs in Schools to
promote help-seeking behaviors. Staff members will implement
the "Ask for help" training among teens. The training will last
for 30 minutes and will be conducted after every seven days. In
addition, teens and teachers will wear a wrist bracelet written:
"It is OK to Seek Help." According to Gallo and Wachter
(2022), teens are more likely to share suicidal thoughts with
classmates and peers than teachers or adults. The proposed
Yellow Ribbon Program (YRP) is designed to encourage and
support teens' help-seeking behaviors.
Vulnerable Population
The youth are more vulnerable to dying by suicide than adults.
In the United States, estimates reveal that about 7% of teens
(adolescents) attempt suicide yearly (Vaughn et al., 2020). It
was also established that at least one suicide is completed for
every 100 suicidal attempts. There is an increased risk for
suicide attempts among teens with a history of abuse, family
discord, and negative life events; adolescents with substance
abuse, general health, and mental health problems; and girls. It
is noteworthy that risk factors for suicide among teens seem to
be consistent with the bodily developmental changes during
adolescence. The risk of suicide among teens may be increased
by factors such as distress, irritability, lack of a support
network, feelings of hopelessness and struggle with sexuality or
gender identity. Adolescence is a time of relationships, the need
for independence, and relationships, which conflicts with the
expectations and rules set by others. Busby et al. (2020)
suggested that mental health systems should address additional
objectives, such as supporting healthy youth development.
Given the high risk for suicide among the adolescent

3. population, schools are better placed to provide early
interventions to address the problem.
Evidence-Based Interventions (Literature Review of Articles)
One of the teen suicide prevention programs is gatekeeper
training, elucidated by an article titled "
Preventing Adolescent Suicide," authored by Torok et
al. (2019). Gatekeeper training allows persons with high contact
with teens, such as teachers and parents, to detect early signs of
suicidal conduct, tendencies, or behaviors and intervene to
prevent injury, disability, or mortality (Torok, Calear, Smart,
Nicolopoulos, & Wong, 2019). The article suggests that parents
and teachers reported improvements in perceived confidence
and knowledge to intervene to prevent teen suicide. From this
study, it is apparent that most teachers and parents have
considerably low suicide literacy. School counsellors have more
knowledge concerning suicide risks among teens and how to
intervene, which means that gatekeeper training may have a null
effect on this group. According to Gallo and Wachter (2022),
gatekeeper training for teaching staff is an effective and safe
strategy for increasing awareness of suicide risk among teens
and reducing suicidal attempts or deaths in schools. As such,
gatekeeper training programs should be reviewed and improved
regularly to enhance their efficacy in facilitating suicide
prevention.
Another evidence-based intervention to prevent suicide among
teens in schools is screening and mental health assessment.
According to Vaughn et al. (2020), schools may focus screening
exercises on selected teens (known to be at risk of suicide) or
perform it universally with all teens. In the article by Singer et
al. (2020) titled "
School-based Suicide Prevention," the authors contend
that screening for suicide risk factors among teens in schools
increases early detection of individuals at risk of committing
suicide and enhances timely interventions to improve mental
health. The students identified from the screening process as

4. being at risk should be interviewed further to understand their
problems and address them appropriately. However, there are no
universal screening measures for behavioral health problems or
suicide (Singer, Erbacher & Rosen, 2019). Nevertheless,
screening encourages help-seeking behaviors’ and improves
mental health among teens, ultimately reducing suicidal
thoughts.
Strengths and Weaknesses of the Articles
The two articles reviewed have fundamental strengths and some
weaknesses. According to Busby et al. (2020), a robust research
methodology is essential for generating authoritative findings.
A case in point is the systematic and rigorous analysis of
various studies in Torok's article. The comparative evaluation
of more than five studies about gatekeeper training enables the
authors to obtain reliable and broad sets of data, leading to
valid conclusions. Similarly, the article "school-based suicide
prevention" contains significant explanations on the efficacy of
screening to detect and prevent teen suicide in schools. The
authors highlight different screening approaches used by
schools and draw useful conclusions about their efficacy.
Despite the strengths, the methodologies used in the two articles
lacked the use of validated scales to measure behavioral
outcomes of suicide prevention programs. According to Gallo
and Wachter (2022), lack of measurement standardization and
variance in scientific quality complicate efforts to determine the
efficacy of the suicide prevention programs discussed.
Nevertheless, the articles highlight important information to
support integrating suicide prevention programs with school
mental health systems.
Theoretical Model (Yellow Ribbon Program of Suicide
Prevention)
The Yellow Ribbon Program (YRB) will focus on
empowering teens through education, awareness, and leadership
to prevent suicide. According to Vaughn et al. (2020),
integrating youth suicide prevention programs with mental

5. health programs in schools is crucial for encouraging help-
seeking behaviors among teens. The YRB program also reduces
the stigma associated with suicide, which often discourages
adolescents from openly sharing suicidal thoughts with adults or
teachers. More specifically, the YRB program entails two
components: "Ask for help" and "Be the link." The component
of asking for help will be actualized by implementing an
educational program to create awareness and provide teens with
knowledge to encourage help-seeking behaviors as individuals
or on behalf of peers. Also, the teens will be issued a Yellow
Ribbon Card. The card will highlight the three steps of helping
oneself and others and an appeal to dial hotline numbers to seek
help when faced with suicidal thoughts, stress, anxiety,
depression, or behavioral problems. Gallo and Wachter (2022)
asserted that teens require quick help, especially by dialing
hotlines, before they feel helpless and resort to suicide.
Therefore, integrating the YRP with mental health systems in
schools will increase the efficacy of preventing suicide among
teens.
References
Busby, D. R., King, C. A., Brent, D., Grupp‐Phelan, J., Gould,
M., Page, K., & Pediatric Emergency Care Applied Research
Network (PECARN). (2020). Adolescents’ Engagement with
Crisis Hotline Risk‐management Services: A Report from the
Emergency Department Screen for Teen Suicide Risk
(ED‐STARS) Study.
Suicide and Life‐Threatening Behavior,
50(1), 72-82.
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/sltb.12558
Gallo, L., & Wachter, M, C. A. (2022). Suicide Intervention in
Schools: If Not School Counselors, Then Who?

6. Teaching and Supervision in Counseling,
4(2), 6. https://trace.tennessee.edu/tsc/vol4/iss2/6/
Singer, J. B., Erbacher, T. A., & Rosen, P. (2019). School-based
suicide prevention: A framework for evidence-based practice.
School Mental Health,
11(1), 54-71.
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12310-018-9245-8
Torok, M., Calear, A. L., Smart, A., Nicolopoulos, A., & Wong,
Q. (2019). Preventing adolescent suicide: A systematic review
of the effectiveness and change mechanisms of suicide
prevention gatekeeping training programs for teachers and
parents.
Journal of adolescence,
73, 100-112.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0140197119
300715
Vaughn, L. M., Sunny, C. E., Lindquist-Grantz, R., King, C.,
Brent, D., Boyd, S., & Grupp-Phelan, J. (2020). Successful
suicide screening in the pediatric emergency department: youth,
parent, researcher, and clinician perspectives.
Archives of suicide research,
24(sup1), 124-141.
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13811118.2018.1
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