Holidays may mean suicide
GHS teen's attempt is typical, experts say

By Bill Donovan
Staff writer

GALLUP — Most people look upon the Christmas season as a time of joyous celebration and excessive gift giving.

But officials for the local school and local police look at the season differently — as a time when people get depressed for one reason or another and thoughts of suicide and suicide attempts reach its yearly peak.

So it came as no surprise to either school officials or police when a call came in from Gallup High School of 15-year-old Cullen Manuelito, who had attempted suicide by cutting his wrists.

“We have seen suicide attempts and suicides numerous times during this time of year,” said John Allen, deputy police chief for the Gallup Police Department.

Recently, for example, police reported on a man who just walked to the train tracks and turned toward the train and waited for it to hit him.

The case at Gallup High School ended a lot better with someone seeing the student and calling police. When police got to the scene, they discovered that the wounds to the wrist were superficial and took him to the hospital for treatment and counseling. When asked by police why he did it, the youth said, “I just felt like doing it for no reason.”

Diane DiPaolo, head of counseling for the Gallup-McKinley County School District, said a lot of students at this time of year have trouble coping with their problems and the bi-annual survey that the school district does shows that there’s a sizable number of high school students in the county — more than 20 percent — who admit to having suicidal thoughts at one time or another during the year.

Gallup school district officials know first-hand just how serious this can be.

During the 2004-5 school year, 14 students in the school district committed suicide.

This was a wake-up call for the district officials who immediately set up programs. The next year, that number was reduced to two and since then, the district has not had any suicides.

The key to the district’s success, she said, was to be more open about the problem both within the staff and within the student population.

Now, every year, students in the secondary school watch a video called “Signs of Suicide (SOS)” and teachers are encouraged to talk to students about the video and what it means to students.

Students are told that thoughts of suicide are not uncommon but these thoughts need to be handled in the proper way, either by talking to your parent or a professional at the school.

It’s not uncommon, she said, that students, after watching the video, go to a teacher and counselor and report that they think that one of their friends may be having problems and need to be helped, which sets in motion procedures in the district to alert parents of the possible problems and to offer counseling services.

In many cases, she said, the parents don’t see the signs until after it is brought to their attention that the child may be having problems. “They just don’t pay attention,” DiPaolo said.

She said that some schools in the district also provide parents a chance to see a SOS video but few show up.

Gallup High School had one last year and only six parents showed up.