CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT

There were seven young people that committed suicide in Plano, TX in 1983. Of course this created a near hysteria. The community organized, and through intervention strategies were able to stop the clustering phenomenon. One outcome of intense community self-examination was to recognize the need for life-skills curriculum in the public schools. Skills that historically were taught in the home, such as coping with anger and stress, loss, communication, personal and community goal-setting, no longer were a part of early childhood experience. The Texas State Legislature passed a bill mandating that information on suicide, crisis and suicide prevention be included in curriculum offerings in mid-school. Under normal circumstances, the community reacts only in crisis. Young people are given peer counseling training, information about coping with loss, and suicide prevention information-- "in the moment". After the crisis passes, the sense of false security returns and often complacency. The advantage to this intervention strategy is that a mandatory curriculum ensures that each generation is exposed to the same information and training.

SITE MAP & RESOURCES