The St. Joseph School District is inviting area residents to a presentation later this month on safeguarding youth against suicide. 

Kim Hill is the Counseling Coordinator for the School District. Hill said, according to a recent statistic, suicide moved up to the second leading cause of death for 10 to 25 year-olds. Hill said she thinks the presentation will be important for not only parents, but all community members to attend. 

“Last year, and the last two to three years, we’ve had several deaths of students by suicide as well as by violence, so I think our community is kind of on hyper alert about that and that’s a good thing, because it generates the conversation about then, how can we as a community safeguard our children, what can we, as a community, do to prevent suicide of our youth,” Hill said. “Also, there are other issues facing our teens and our children and so it just really brings a greater awareness to some of those risks that are out there and what we can do about it.”

The presentation will feature Dr. Scott Poland who is a nationally recognized expert on school crisis, youth violence, suicide intervention, school safety and more. A local expert, Dr. Jackie Kibler will also be a part of the presentation. Dr. Kibler has studied suicide prevention and crisis response for over 15 years. Kibler currently teaches undergraduate and graduate courses at Northwest Missouri State University. 

Hill said one of the main goals of the presentation is to help parents and the community understand how to build resiliency and coping skills in youth.

“I think that this is going to be a great presentation and probably could be one of the most important presentations a parent could attend right now in terms of concern for their child’s resiliency and safeguarding their child, but also for the other students that their child goes to school with and is friends with,” Hill said. 

Hill said the presentation is being put on because of grant money through a Project SERV grant.

The presentation is entitled, “Parenting in Challenging Times: How to Recognize Risk, Build Resiliency and Create Safeguards for Our Kids Against Suicide.” 

It will be held from 6:30 to 8 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 21, at Wellspring Community Church at 2101 Jules Street in St. Joseph.