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November 7, 2023
Dear Boise,
The reality of our community’s ongoing struggle with mental health has hit our school families hard this year. In only a few short weeks, our crisis response team has been called into action for multiple student deaths and one teacher death.
In some cases, the death was the result of an accident, while others have been suicide. And, these are just the tragedies we know about. Undoubtedly, there are similar stories that have impacted you, a friend or a neighbor. Our community is hurting. Our children are hurting. We are hurting.
For far too long, Idaho has struggled with mental health challenges. Perhaps most evident is our state’s history as having one of the highest suicide rates in the country. Closer to home, however, recent studies have shown growing trends in stress, social isolation and depression among our youth.
Our school district has a number of resources already in place to help students, family and staff with some of these issues. From counselors to social workers to child psychologists, our schools have highly-trained mental health professionals available on a daily basis. Over the years, we have also developed relationships with phenomenal community mental health partners such as BPA Health, Communities for Youth, the City of Boise, YMCA, Boise State University, St. Luke’s and St. Alphonsus to provide families and employees with critical resources outside of the school environment. In addition, we continue to strengthen our curriculum so our students learn not just about resources, but develop a deeper understanding of mental health overall. And, as mentioned earlier, our crisis response team provides immediate and comprehensive support for a school after a tragedy has occurred.
For more information on immediate support available to our students and families please view our Resources for Support online brochure. We also encourage you to reach out to your school principal/counseling supervisor with specific concerns or questions. For those who would like a broader perspective on the challenges facing our youth and actions you can take, Communities for Youth is hosting an Action Team meeting on November 28th at JUMP in downtown Boise. Please register for free online.
Of course, more work needs to be done. We must face this challenge together as a community. None of us can thrive in isolation. We cannot hope to move forward following different paths. Thank you for your support and your continued engagement in your child’s education and in the health of our community.
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