Precarious spaces: Risk, responsibility and uncertainty in school-based suicide prevention programs

White, Jennifer; Morris, Jonathan

doi:10.1016/j.socscimed.2010.09.046

Cited by 27 publications

(26 citation statements)

References 18 publications

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“…Resonating with the findings and perspectives of White and Morris (2010), suicide prevention initiatives that are standardized, driven by facts and content, and applied universally to all individuals miss the mark. In fact, what these participants are crying out for is to be heard and to be treated as real people, unique and valued in relationships.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Listening for the Voices of Resilience: A Group of Adolescents’ Experiences With a Suicide Prevention Education Program

Ohlmann

Kwee

Lees³

2014

ijcyfs

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Adolescents' experiences in a grassroots, school-based suicide prevention education group in British Columbia, Canada, were investigated in response to anecdotal observations of the group's strong positive impact. In the Alive group, at-risk high school students, 15 to 18 years of age, learned to support each other, became literate in mental health issues, and created and performed presentations on suicide prevention to peers. The authors employed the qualitative method of the Listening Guide to explore the participants' experiences of this program. Participant narratives reveal voices of vulnerability (including voices of not knowing, disconnection, and silence -primarily in reference to past experiences of suicidality and depression), and of resiliency (including voices of knowing, connection, altruism, and protection). Through their experience of the Alive group, the participants developed and strengthened inner and interpersonal resources of resilience and knowledge of themselves and others. Motivated by their own healing, they articulated a desire to help and impact others with what they had learned.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Listening for the Voices of Resilience: A Group of Adolescents’ Experiences With a Suicide Prevention Education Program

Ohlmann

Kwee

Lees³

2014

ijcyfs

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“…More importantly, I began to wonder if conceptualizing our roles as "message transmitters" was even appropriate. Was "mastery of content" the only thing to consider when doing this kind of work (White & Morris, 2010)? Parsons and Taylor (2011) acknowledge that, "If the environment in which learners explore is sterile and lacks context, there is a chance transference of knowledge will not occur beyond the classroom" (p. 39).…”

Section: Early Experiences Of Unexpected Vulnerabilitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Connection and Relational Engagement in a Youth Suicide Prevention Program

Wells¹

2014

ijcyfs

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Vancouver Island Crisis Society has developed a unique approach to suicide prevention for youth and is encouraged to observe the positive impact these programs have had in the lives of students and on school communities as a result. This is the story of the evolution of two such school-based suicide prevention programs: (a) GRASP (Growth, Resilience, Acknowledgement, Suicide, Awareness, Personal Safe Planning); and (b) Speak Out, Reach Out, Help Out. While suicidal despair often thrives in isolation, what power might human connection have to combat it? And could that sense of connection be interwoven into youth suicide prevention programs, not to diminish what is already there but to enrich and enliven current best practices, and research-based information? Throughout this article, I will uncover the possibilities of what can emerge when practice is informed by the professional literature and a purposeful intent to create a sense of connection and relational engagement.

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“…Thus the peculiar demand for more evidencebased practices in a field in which the evidence base is both contested and limited leaves suicide prevention educators practicing in a very contradictory and precarious space (White & Morris, 2010). In spite of this uncertainty, schools continue to be primary sites for youth suicide prevention.…”

Section: Youth Suicide Preventionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Fourth, once a student is identified as at risk for suicide he or she becomes objectified as a fragile, ''ready-tobe-acted-upon Other'' (Hosking, 2008, p. 676) in need of control or supervision. Most often this means positioning nonsuicidal peers and classmates as responsible for detecting risk in others and facilitating their referral to a mental health professional (White & Morris, 2010). Fifth, many standardized approaches to detecting risk and responding to individuals in a suicidal crisis reflect a one-size-fits-all mentality (Rogers & Soyka, 2004), which can potentially leave those on the receiving end of these practices feeling dehumanized and objectified.…”

Section: Youth Suicide Preventionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…As a way to respond to this complexity and acknowledge the muddling through quality of much prevention work, alternative research frameworks, including constructionist (also known as interpretivist), critical, and postmodern paradigms, have been identified as having a useful contribution to make (Greenhalgh & Russell, 2009;Stoneman, 2011a;White & Morris, 2010). Drawing from some of these alternative frameworks, we argue that by restricting our attention to the question of what works-the question at the heart of the EBP movement-we fall into the trap of believing that all social problems among youth are objective conditions for which a rational solution exists, and it is just a matter of identifying and applying the correct scientific evidence (Hastings, 2006).…”

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confidence: 99%

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Thinking and Doing Prevention: A Critical Analysis of Contemporary Youth Crime and Suicide Prevention Discourses

White

Stoneman

2012

Child & Youth Services

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In this article, we have traced some of the dominant cultural narratives shaping current understandings of youth crime and suicide. We have aimed to show some of the ways that our received understandings of what the problem is and what should be done about it are social constructions that privilege a certain kind of scientific explanation. By starting from the premise that narrow, highly regulated approaches to studying these complex problems are bound to be inadequate we have argued that alternative ways of thinking, studying and doing prevention need to be considered. A number of theoretical frameworks, including constructionist, critical, and postmodern paradigms, have been identified as having a useful contribution to make. We conclude by recommending ways of thinking and doing prevention that capitalize on young people's wisdom, recognize more collaborative approaches to knowledge-making and community building, and enable multiple forms of critical engagement and resistance as well as engendering practices of hope and solidarity.

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Precarious spaces: Risk, responsibility and uncertainty in school-based suicide prevention programs

Cited by 27 publications

References 18 publications

Listening for the Voices of Resilience: A Group of Adolescents’ Experiences With a Suicide Prevention Education Program

Listening for the Voices of Resilience: A Group of Adolescents’ Experiences With a Suicide Prevention Education Program

Connection and Relational Engagement in a Youth Suicide Prevention Program

Thinking and Doing Prevention: A Critical Analysis of Contemporary Youth Crime and Suicide Prevention Discourses

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