Seneca Valley School District should be applauded for entering into a partnership with the Jed Foundation to strengthen the district’s existing mental health and suicide prevention efforts.

This isn’t a case of catering to a “snowflake” generation. No less an authority than the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention notes that adolescent mental health and suicide risk remain substantial public health concerns.

The CDC reported that in 2021, suicide was the third-leading cause of death among American high school youths 14 to 18 years old with 1,952 suicide-related deaths that year. It also reported high rates of suicide and suicidal thoughts in the 14-to-18 age group.

According to CDC figures, 39.7% of students experienced prolonged feelings of sadness and hopelessness, 20.4% seriously considered attempting suicide and 9.5% had actually attempted to kill themselves.

And it isn’t getting any better. The CDC noted poor mental health and suicide-related behaviors have continued to rise among high school age teens.

One could debate the causes of this trend: whether social media use has increased suicide attempts by exposing younger users to messages promoting self-harm or whether greater time on a computer screen equates to increased suicidal thoughts.

The causes don’t really matter when thousands of teens are killing themselves every year at an ever-increasing rate.

That’s why Seneca Valley’s proactive stance is so very important. The school district is seeking help from the Jed Foundation to improve its support system for any student at risk for suicide.

The reality is, if this new effort saves even one teen from making an irrevocable mistake, it will have been worth it.

— EF