‘Students are feeling lost.’ Two Sacramento teens take their lives in separate incidents
Chris Evans took a phone call late Monday night, the one anyone in education fears and braces for.
A student lost to suicide.
Evans is the superintendent of the Natomas Unified School District. He is in the business of people interaction, learning and unity. Nothing crushes more than losing a student this way, Evans said.
On Monday night, Evans learned that two high school students in the region — one from Natomas Unified and one from Twin Rivers Unified School District — took their lives. One was a girl, the other a boy.
The incidents were unrelated and their reasons unknown. But Evans and others said the deaths highlight the need to connect young people with help and services, especially as schools, clubs and gatherings with friends have come to a halt during the coronavirus pandemic.
“It’s our worst nightmare,” Evans told The Sacramento Bee. “We all cried tears last night and tears this morning. Too often, suicide and mental health are not talked about enough. We have to talk about it. It’s happening. We need to be open about this, what people are feeling, what they can do to help themselves. A lot of people in this shelter-in-place time are feeling, to a degree, alone, isolated. Nothing replaces human touch. Nothing replaces human contact.
“We want to remind people that there is help out there. We hurt. What else could we have done? We have a 24-hour hotline that has saved hundreds in our district, people who want to hurt themselves. There is help.”
Evans on Tuesday morning quickly worked with Lisa Kaplan, the president of Natomas Unified, and Sacramento City Councilwoman Angelique Ashby, who represents the area, to get the word out via email and social media of available resources for those in need.
In a letter to school staffers and “key stakeholders,” the three wrote, in part: “This is very sad, and our heartfelt thoughts go out to their loved ones and friends. Please remember that in Natomas, young or old, we are here for you. These are extraordinary times, but we are in it together. We are here to help. You are not alone. We care about you and if you need some support, please reach out to us or call someone for help.”
The letter and social media posts included contact information for the California Youth Crisis line which runs 24 hours a day, seven days a week: 800-843-5200 and suicidepreventionlifeline.org
Calls to the suicide hotline have increased during the coronavirus pandemic, officials said.
WellSpace Health’s Sacramento offices answered 4,713 suicide and crisis calls from across the state in March, compared to 3,375 calls in February. Last year, the crisis line averaged 3,350 suicide prevention calls per month.
Calls from Sacramento increased at a similar rate, and about 9 percent of the callers mentioned the coronavirus.
Ashby told The Bee, “Students are feeling lost. It’s the worst thing for any of us to experience, and the only thing that even makes it a little tolerable is that people are not in it alone. For some of these kids, they feel like it’s the end of the world. They’ve lost so much in high school due to the pandemic, the things they love the most: being social, going to dances, the prom, playing sports. Some feel like it’s gone forever. It’s not. We want to get these resources out to families. There’s always help.”
Ashby said the distance learning that has and will consume students and faculty the remainder of this academic year isn’t so much about continuing education as it is “to feeling connected.”
While both Natomas and Twin Rivers Unified have transitioned to distance learning, Twin Rivers Unified is on spring break this week. Tuesday marked one month since the Natomas district shuttered its schools.
Ashby also fears that home is not a safe haven for some, be it students of any age or adults of any age or walk of life. These student suicides were not tied to domestic violence.
“We’re all worried about this,” Ashby said. “Home is not an equal space. School is an equal space. School is safe for everyone. Everyone is welcome, and it doesn’t matter what’s going on in life. But school is out and it’s going to be hard on a lot of people.
“Work in general for most of us is a safe place. Home is not. We can’t change that. I can’t just walk inside people’s homes and get them out of domestic violence, but we can remind people that are feeling powerless that there are resources. Reach out to somebody. That’s why it’s important that churches stay open online, and why it’s so important to talk about the future.”
She added, “Tomorrow is going to be a better day than yesterday. Every day we move through this pandemic together is a day closer to the finish line, and there’s so much good at the end.”
The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline provides confidential assistance to anyone in crisis and their loved ones through a live chat and free 24-hour hotline: 800-273-8255. WellSpace Health operates the Sacramento region’s 24-hour hotline: 916-368-3111 or text HOPE to 916-668-4226.
This story was originally published April 7, 2020 at 3:16 PM.