By Rory Linnane
Appleton Post-Crescent
Published March 29, 2018
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For Isaiah Donaldson, the decline happened slowly. As a freshman in high school, his friends drifted away and stopped talking to him. Some days he’d just go home and cry. He was depressed, and he didn’t feel any motivation to change.
“School was just hearing the bell and walking around until I went home,” Donaldson said.
He transferred schools. Now a junior at Appleton West High School, Donaldson is bright and confident as he talks about how important it is for students to reach out to peers who might be suffering like he was. For him, a friend reaching out repeatedly to connect with him made all the difference.
“I got lucky that someone came to me,” Donaldson said. “If that wouldn’t have happened, no clue where I’d be at now.”
Anti-suicide messaging in schools has traditionally come from teachers, mass-produced posters, outside agencies, or decades-old videos in health class. But research has shown that often the most effective outreach to students is done by other students.
Some schools are using new programs to help foster those connections.
For Donaldson, it happened organically. Today, he is trying to be part of the solution for other students. He joined his school’s new Sources of Strength group, part of a national program that trains students to lead suicide awareness campaigns.
The SOS program has taken root in the Fox Valley, and other Wisconsin school districts are pursuing similar models.
“We’re trying to learn from them,” said Barbara Moser, chair of Prevent Suicide Greater Milwaukee, which is trying to get similar programs in Southeast Wisconsin. “It empowers kids to break that code of silence which is so prevalent among peers.”
In schools with established student-led programs around the country, students have noticed mental health trends before adults. They’ve used social media, shared personal stories and helped friends get professional help.
There’s evidence to back up that anecdotal experience.
A 2009 study showed that traditional messaging — a video about depression and treatment, a billboard with a sad face and message to “see your doctor” about depression — actually made depressed students less likely to seek help. Experts say such messages are quickly lost on teens if they take a negative tone or do not come from a respected source.
A 2015 federally funded study out of the University of Rochester School of Medicine found more promising results from student-led presentations through SOS programs. Surveys showed that students exposed to those presentations were more likely to reach out to adults for mental health support.
In the Fox Valley, SOS has become more accessible for school districts thanks to the Northeast Wisconsin Mental Health Connection, a coalition of care providers and community organizations that has tapped grant funding to subsidize the cost. It generally costs districts $5,000 annually to bring in national trainers from SOS, a for-profit business.
The coalition approach is also saving money by having SOS train a local Boys and Girls Club employee who will be able to work with future cohorts of students more affordably.
