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Mental Health Screening

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Suicide is the second leading cause of death for ages 10-24 (Scallan and Allick). Mental health screenings can help show the signs of a person who is having suicidal thoughts. In recent years, there has been a mass quantity of debate regarding whether or not mental health screenings for teenagers should be provided in schools. To most, mental health screenings in schools are an invasion of privacy. However these mental health screenings provide the help teens with suicidal tendencies need. Many students will not go and get help if they are feeling depressed, through these screenings it will help provide teens with someone that will help them. While some believe that mental health screenings are an invasion of privacy, mental health screenings …show more content…

The issue of the high suicide rates in teens is an issue in many other countries, like Canada. In many provinces in Canada the suicide rate for males is 40 times the national average ( Recognizing Risk). This affects teenagers and definitely their parents. The loss of a young life affects the family and society for years, as they struggle to understand what happened (Recognizing Risk). It is very unfortunate that the risk of teenager suicide is so high. The family of the teenagers who follow through with suicide become emotionally ruined. For these families it is an everyday thing to wonder what type of adult their child would have became. When a teenager commits suicide it leaves their friends to think about what they could have done to stop it, and often the friends begin to blame the loss of their friend on …show more content…

Suicidal thoughts can be produced by an endless amount of things. A couple common reasons are, sexual/verbal/physical abuse, loss of a loved one. a serious illness, or alcohol and drug abuse. For example a major reasoning people commit suicide is because of bullying. A student named Audrie Pott from Sarasota, California was sexually harassed by two guys at her school. The students had to go to different schools and give a presentation on slut shaming and cyberbullying. The boys’ purposes were to pass around the awareness of bullying, and also the awareness of suicide. These boys owed the family of Audrie Pott 950,00 dollars (Teicher- Khadaroo). Many teenagers who are suicidal will attempt to hide it from everyone else, so the importance of the mental health screenings in schools is huge. Students will not begin to talk about their suicidal thoughts to someone they do not trust. The screenings will help point out the signs of depression. The school will offer help to these students who need it. The issues of suicide has been around for many years, but noone can seem to figure out how to stop it. The idea of requiring mental health screenings to teens will surely decrease the rate of suicide and increase the rate of help for the suicidal

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