A Palo Alto church has joined ranks with city and school officials in an effort to connect teens and young children with adults, mentors and teachers—and steer them out of harms way.
St. Marks Church, which represents about 15,000 people, launched the "connection" effort after the rash of teenage suicides in 2009 and managed to get the Palo Alto Unified School District to adopt the philosophy as a district goal. St. Marks will host an event Sunday night where district officials will give an update on the effort.
Teens live by a loyal code of silence between peers, said Parishioner Mark Smitherman, so dangerous actions and words often don't come to light before it's too late. Along with the Peninsula Interfaith Action Committee, Smitherman said his church analyzed extensive data, some from the Gates Foundation, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and even the U.S. Air Force, which all showed consistent findings.
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"When we looked at all of those, the one thing we found is that the better-connected kids are, the better they do in everyday life," Smitherman said.
Superintendent Kevin Skelly, student services coordinator Amy Drodette, school board member Melissa Baten Caswell and Mayor Sid Espinosa are also expected to attend.
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The five suicides in summer 2009, all on Palo Alto Caltrain tracks, were a major eye-opener for the entire city. .
The school district and city embarked on parallel youth-well-being efforts, even , and support the same volunteer groups, Project Safety Net and Track Watch, a group focused on last-minute suicide prevention.
Baten Caswell said "student connectedness" is crucial, but it's not the only factor.
"This group is really interested in the connectedness, above and beyond," Baten Caswell said. "We want every student to be connected to an adult, but we know that's not a silver bullet."
She said another crucial element is teaching people, adults and youth, how to react when faced with a peer who "at-risk." She said people need to know how to spot problems and also how to react. That will be the topic at Project Safety Net's next meeting, where professionals will actually teach "Question, Persuade, Refer," a technique known in professional circles as QPR.
