Bitter Irony: Washington Suicide Prevention Program Recognized

A Washington curriculum for suicide prevention has been recognized by a national resource center as a model program.

The Help Every Living Person curriculum teaches high school students about suicide prevention. It helps students learn to recognize if a friend is thinking about suicide and helps them work on communication skills. The program was created in 2006 by the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction with $100,000 from the state Legislature. Washington 9th and 10th graders have been using the curriculum for the past few years and now kids around the country are being exposed to the program.

Too bad the state’s voters decided that terminally ill people don’t qualify under the category of “every living person.” No, for those people who become suicidal, facilitation, rather than prevention, was legally declared a right and proper course. Talk about sending the kids a mixed message!