Whitman HS Suicide

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For those who would like to help the cause of mental illness treatment and suicide prevention in JoJo's memory, this family has published this:

http://obits.dignitymemorial.com/dignity-memorial/obituary.aspx?n=Jordana-Greenberg&lc=4927&pid=187385370&mid=7659218

I hope everyone who has read any part of this thread reads this. May she Rest In Peace. I have been there too.

[Anonymous]

Can’t believe people are making this about public vs private school. This child was in private until a few months ago. Mental
I’ll ess doesn’t discriminate. RIP, sweet girl.

[Anonymous]

So much love being shared in the Whitman community tonight. Many tears, much love.

[Anonymous]

Were there lots of school officials there? Glad to hear it was lovely...

[Anonymous]

We are out of town tonight, so couldn't attend. Here's Dr. Goodwin's message from earlier today:

Dear Whitman Community,

As you may know, we are hosting an event at our school this evening in response to the death of “Jo Jo” . We will take time to reflect on what Jo Jo meant to our students and school community, and we will focus on the important topic of suicide prevention and provide resources to support our students as they cope with this tragedy.

We encourage families to join us tonight alongside your children for this discussion about teen mental health needs, how we can help each other, and what we can do to promote health and wellness. We are fortunate to have staff from the MCPS Office of Student and Family Support and Engagement as well as our community partner EveryMind, joining us tonight to help answer questions about the information we will be sharing on suicide prevention.

Thank you for your ongoing commitment to our children.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How, as parents, can we tell if our kids are depressed when they can be so good at hiding it? The social worker PP talked about parents who are shocked and had no idea about their teen’s mental state before they attempted or committed suicide - and that scares me most of all. How can we know and what can we do?

It’s also scary how dangerous depression can be - that it can take a girl who is vital, vivacious, engaged in her community and who loved life in the way she did.

Reading about Jojo - she just sounds like such a special girl, who made everyone around her feel happy and connected.

My reading is that they did know and were doing everything they could to help. You don't take 2 months out of school to go to wilderness rehab for the heck of it.

Exactly. Nor do you thank AA. That obit is brave and honest and loving. I feel for her family.

[Anonymous]

This makes me nervous to post. But I feel I should share.

I went to Whitman last year. I started the year happy, but with a diagnosed anxiety disorder and clinical depression. The school triggered a horrible mental breakdown for me. The pressure was never ending and I didn’t know how to fit in. I tried to kill myself 6 weeks into the school year, and thank god I survived. I went to a hospital program for a month, then did school from home through MCPS home and hospital. I now attend a therapeutic school, but I still suffer the damage and Still struggle with suicidal thoughts and self destructive behavior.

I felt like no one wanted to help me, at one point I had dropped all but 2 classes and spent most of the day in the library or goodwins office sobbing and begging to go home. I couldn’t handle so many people, so many assignments, it was horrible for me.

I didn’t know JoJo. But she was so loved, she was amazing. It breaks and shatters my heart to think of her feeling the way I felt, the desperation, the despair. No one deserves to die that way.

Please, protect your children. It’s so easy to be damaged so quickly in irreversible ways.

[Anonymous]

My daughter is a freshman at whitman and tells me things very similar to the person at 22:31. School starts so early, they have so much work, psat nonsense and pressure start freshman year. Ive already told mine if she feels its too much she can step back and we will find alternatives for her. I don’t understand why this pressure is put on teenagers and can’t imagine how the stress is affecting their growth and development. I understand Jojo had other challenges beyond high school but in general Whitman does not seem a healthy place for young people.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My daughter is a freshman at whitman and tells me things very similar to the person at 22:31. School starts so early, they have so much work, psat nonsense and pressure start freshman year. Ive already told mine if she feels its too much she can step back and we will find alternatives for her. I don’t understand why this pressure is put on teenagers and can’t imagine how the stress is affecting their growth and development. I understand Jojo had other challenges beyond high school but in general Whitman does not seem a healthy place for young people.

The pressure at Whitman starts with the parents. They are so busy keeping up with the neighbors in the status race that that they don't look around to realize this. They are so eager to have their children succeed that they insist that the academic load be unmanigable. There is no other school in this county where the pressure is like this. I am very familiar with what goes on inside Quince Orchard, Northwest, and Poolesville. The kids there have normal teenage lives and their grades are not the life or death of them.

For the love of God Whitman parents calm down and lay off your kids. It does not matter if they go to Frostburg or Harvard. They will be fine wherever they end up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My daughter is a freshman at whitman and tells me things very similar to the person at 22:31. School starts so early, they have so much work, psat nonsense and pressure start freshman year. Ive already told mine if she feels its too much she can step back and we will find alternatives for her. I don’t understand why this pressure is put on teenagers and can’t imagine how the stress is affecting their growth and development. I understand Jojo had other challenges beyond high school but in general Whitman does not seem a healthy place for young people.

The pressure at Whitman starts with the parents. They are so busy keeping up with the neighbors in the status race that that they don't look around to realize this. They are so eager to have their children succeed that they insist that the academic load be unmanigable. There is no other school in this county where the pressure is like this. I am very familiar with what goes on inside Quince Orchard, Northwest, and Poolesville. The kids there have normal teenage lives and their grades are not the life or death of them.

For the love of God Whitman parents calm down and lay off your kids. It does not matter if they go to Frostburg or Harvard. They will be fine wherever they end up.

Again - irreverent ! Stop posting this sanctimonious crap.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My daughter is a freshman at whitman and tells me things very similar to the person at 22:31. School starts so early, they have so much work, psat nonsense and pressure start freshman year. Ive already told mine if she feels its too much she can step back and we will find alternatives for her. I don’t understand why this pressure is put on teenagers and can’t imagine how the stress is affecting their growth and development. I understand Jojo had other challenges beyond high school but in general Whitman does not seem a healthy place for young people.

The pressure at Whitman starts with the parents. They are so busy keeping up with the neighbors in the status race that that they don't look around to realize this. They are so eager to have their children succeed that they insist that the academic load be unmanigable. There is no other school in this county where the pressure is like this. I am very familiar with what goes on inside Quince Orchard, Northwest, and Poolesville. The kids there have normal teenage lives and their grades are not the life or death of them.

For the love of God Whitman parents calm down and lay off your kids. It does not matter if they go to Frostburg or Harvard. They will be fine wherever they end up.

I really don't agree with this at all having had a couple kids go through Whitman. There are certainly some ambitious, striver-type parents, but the majority want their kids to be happy above all else. If you haven't found this to be true, I'm guessing that you aren't really taking part in the community. If your point is that too many kids feel like they need to load up on APs, that's different, and a subject that has sparked a lot of good conversation on the college forum.

[Anonymous]

[quote=Anonymous]I went to Whitman my freshmen year and received no support. No one knew what I was going through. I actively self harmed,used substances (which many students were aware of) and eventually I tried to take my own life, and was close to succeeding. [/quote]

Did you go there in the 90's and your first name starts with a K? If so, I was friends with you and even visited you in the hospital. Glad to hear you're doing well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My daughter is a freshman at whitman and tells me things very similar to the person at 22:31. School starts so early, they have so much work, psat nonsense and pressure start freshman year.

Whitman grad here. Classes started even earlier when I went there (MCPS changed school staring hours 2 years ago). In my observation, the pressure was from the parents and peers, not the school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My daughter is a freshman at whitman and tells me things very similar to the person at 22:31. School starts so early, they have so much work, psat nonsense and pressure start freshman year. Ive already told mine if she feels its too much she can step back and we will find alternatives for her. I don’t understand why this pressure is put on teenagers and can’t imagine how the stress is affecting their growth and development. I understand Jojo had other challenges beyond high school but in general Whitman does not seem a healthy place for young people.

The pressure at Whitman starts with the parents. They are so busy keeping up with the neighbors in the status race that that they don't look around to realize this. They are so eager to have their children succeed that they insist that the academic load be unmanigable. There is no other school in this county where the pressure is like this. I am very familiar with what goes on inside Quince Orchard, Northwest, and Poolesville. The kids there have normal teenage lives and their grades are not the life or death of them.

For the love of God Whitman parents calm down and lay off your kids. It does not matter if they go to Frostburg or Harvard. They will be fine wherever they end up.

Yes, most schools are similar. This is not an isolated thing to Whitman.

[Anonymous]

I wonder if she was taking any antidepressants. These are really dangerous for kids to take, but are still readily prescribed. It explains why she always seemed happy despite having depression. Antidepressants can make you appear to be happy even when you aren’t. In adolesant patients these drugs have been shown to increase suicidality. There are lots of reports of kids who attempted suicide and those who died by suicide while on antidepressants. Also the increasing rate at which they are prescribed for kids might account for why suicide rates have increased.

https://mobile.nytimes.com/2016/04/22/health/us-suicide-rate-surges-to-a-30-year-high.html?referer=

https://www.google.com/amp/s/articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2012/02/15/amp/why-are-more-than-one-in-ten-americans-at-risk-for-suicide.https://www.google.com/amp/s/articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2012/02/15/amp/why-are-more-than-one-in-ten-americans-at-risk-for-suicide.aspx