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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Your kid sounds like he has a lot of good things in his life.  Unfortunately, the suicides I've known about happened with kids that had many strengths and positive aspects to their lives.  So caution is warranted.

I would suggest that you screen and find some appropriate videos from suicide attempt survivors.  Videos that convey a message you want to share with him.  Ask him to watch them and discuss with you. Or watch them together.  I have watched some of these.  A lot say that they are grateful to be alive and that their suicide attempt was traceable to disordered thinking/lack of perspective.  Maybe that's helpful.  Kids like to learn from videos.

I am a bit leery of the counseling profession.  I believe that genuinely loving and thoughtful conversations with parents can help with breakthroughs in thinking.  So in addition to the professional help, maybe there are some additional resources you can bring to bear.

My kid (who has had issues, but is not suicidal) has benefitted from having online friends in Roblox.  They are real kids and they have been a source of emotional support when local friends have let my son down.  You might consider this within reason.  There are okay games out there.

Also consider whether your son is overtired or has SAD.  Maybe you could try a sunlight wakeup lamp as a mild intervention.[/quote]
Beware of showing impulsive kids videos that normalize suicide attempts, proceed with caution. Also avoid suicide TikTok’s and anything that can be instructional (anything that is salacious or focuses on method of attempt). [/quote]

PP.  That's why I said the mom should screen ahead of time.  I would recommend a book or article but kids don't read much.  It's less realistic.

I agree caution is needed but I think it would help to have a common basis for discussion.  Something that is not the child spilling their guts or probing them for thoughts they haven't even had.

Suicide is mentioned to middle schoolers a lot.  In my state, ALL student IDs have to have a suicide hotline number on the back.  Also students are trained to report on acquaintances they feel might be suicidal.  Which actually caused a lot of emotional policing of my kid who was fine at home but hated middle school with a passion. He wasn't allowed to be regularly mopey in class without being reported.  By mopey, I mean head down, frowning, disengaged.  Where we live, it's considered necessary to smile while you're being fed s**t sandwiches.  I helped fix it in one grade by making sure my kid had a haircut so the teacher could see his eyes and looking down/disengaged was less noticeable.  How fake is that?

Middle school sucks.  The worst year of my education was "good school" Robert Frost in Rockville.  Lots going on.  Parents can't control all of the variables.  But you can try to reinforce a loving and open conversational bond with your kid.  I find the testimony of suicide attempt survivors that I've seen to be tasteful and not detail-rich about the event.  More informative about "why not to try".  It's kind of like the LGBTQ "it gets better" campaign.

My best wishes to OP.  Each situation is as individual as the child.[/quote]

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