SHAC suicide-prevention subgroup focuses on parent engagement, webinars and student education

Members of the Conroe ISD SHAC suicide-prevention and wellness subgroup described early work to strengthen parent engagement and student education around suicide prevention and wellness, and noted the district wellness plan was approved at the school board’s last meeting.

Subgroup members said their recent meetings focused on survey-data review and brainstorming parent-engagement strategies: online webinars parents can attend, short (five-minute) informational videos, and quarterly campus lunches to discuss resources. The group also discussed teaching students, particularly at the junior-high and high-school levels, how to respond when peers make concerning statements.

"We kind of reviewed the survey data that the board gave us or the district gave us. And one of the things we found was that they felt that parent engagement was weak," a subgroup member said. The group is also reviewing district policies related to suicide prevention and plans to develop further recommendations as its work continues.

In the meeting the wellness plan itself was described as approved by the school board at the last meeting; SHAC thanked participants who contributed to the plan. The suicide-prevention subgroup described its work as still in the planning phase and said it will continue drafting parent-engagement resources and policy recommendations.

No formal SHAC motions were taken on suicide-prevention items during the meeting; the subgroup reported ongoing meetings and next steps for outreach and content development.