RUMFORD – Mountain Valley High School is one of 12 high schools in the state to receive a suicide prevention grant.
The grant comes from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention by way of the state’s Department of Human Services. The high school will receive $8,000 a year for three years.
“This is a prevention grant that will educate all members of the staff to the recognition of suicidal signs,” said MVHS Principal Bruce Lindberg.
Kathy Sutton, school health coordinator and writer of the grant, said much of the money will be used for training every member of the school’s staff, including teachers, custodians and anyone else in the district who comes in contact with students to watch out for the signs.
Some funding will also be used to develop a suicide prevention component in the high school health education course, and to devise guidelines on how to respond whenever suicide signs become apparent.
“We didn’t get this because of high incidents but because the philosophy of the district is prevention is better than reaction,” said Lindberg.
Statewide, suicide is the second leading cause of death among adolescents and young adults, age 15-24. That’s why the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention appropriated nearly $300,000 to the state.
High schools who received the $24,000 grant were chosen on the strength of their applications. Sutton has written other grants in the past that were aimed at combating suicide.
Mountain Valley High School and Jay High School were the two schools in western Maine to receive the grant money.
Maine, which has a higher teen/young adult suicide rate than the national average, was one of only four states to receive the funding. The others are Michigan, Washington and Virginia.
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