Additional Information
The goals of the Surviving the Teens® / Suicide Prevention Program include helping teens, parents and community members:
- Recognize stressors that contribute to depression / suicidal behaviors
- Explain adaptive and maladaptive behaviors in response to these stressors
- Give signs and symptoms of depression and warning signs and risk factors of suicide
- Find ways to help depressed / suicidal teens
Information can also be utilized as a teaching tool in health classes and as an adjunct to the in-school program, reducing lecture time and providing more time for discussion, role-plays and interaction with students.
Cincinnati Children’s continues to seek opportunities to expand and fund the program to more schools in hope of impacting a greater number of people about depression and suicide prevention. This program has already been expanded to include churches and other faith-based communities, by offering presentations to parents, teens and those working with children.
For more information, if you would like to volunteer or have the Surviving the Teens program come to your church, school or organization, contact Cathy Strunk, MSN, RN (cathy.strunk@cchmc.org).
History of the Program
The Suicide Prevention Program at Cincinnati Children's began in February 2001 with the support of The J. E. & Z .B. Butler Foundation and Katherine B. Rappaport, MD. The program's goals are to:
- Interrupt and circumvent the causal chain of suicidal behavior
- Close the gap of services for suicidal children and adolescents in the Cincinnati area
Cathy Strunk, MSN, RN, Suicide Prevention Expert and Liaison, fully developed and implemented a multi-class curriculum in 2001, which has been presented in dozens of area schools to teenagers. The name Surviving the Teens" was proposed for the program by Cathy Strunk in 2004 following a real-life tragedy.
