The Signs of Suicide and Prevention Program was implemented into MCPS schools during the 2017-18 school year to educate high school students about mental health issues that they or other students may be experiencing. The program includes a series of videos presented to students throughout their years at RHS that depict real life scenarios of students dealing with depression.

The videos explain that suicide is a preventable tragedy that often occurs as a result of untreated depression. RHS counselors gave presentations to all ninth, 10th and 11th grade students in the fall and to the 12th grade students in the spring.

“Some of the goals of breaking down stigma of mental health issues [are] by bringing awareness and understanding to specifically depression, providing students with skills to recognize the signs along with the tools to help friends or themselves by talking to a trusted adult,” RHS counselor Danielle Krimm said. “The program is implemented across grade levels with the hopes of fostering communication so that students know what to do, where to go for help and that its ok to ask for help.”