Suicide Prevention Month

September is Suicide Prevention Month, a time to bring awareness to the warning signs and ways to prevent suicide. As everyone’s mental health has been affected in recent years, it is now more important than ever to be there to support our loved ones and friends. If you or someone you know may be considering suicide, there are many ways to get help.

 

The 988 Lifeline provides 24/7, free and confidential support for people in distress, as well as prevention and crisis resources.

Find out more about the warning signs of suicide by downloading this flyer.

 

Pressley Ridge offers comprehensive outpatient treatment and counseling for a variety of emotional, behavioral and mental health issues. Find a location near you.

 

More Resources:

Pressley Ridge Program Saves Beaver County Millions of Dollars While Keeping Families in Crisis Together

Pressley Ridge has been a dedicated advocate for children and families in the greater Pittsburgh region for nearly two centuries. What began as an orphanage on the North Side has grown into a nationally recognized organization that supports families in seven states through a continuum of trauma-informed programs and treatment foster care services.

Since the early 1800’s, child welfare has undergone a profound transformation. The approach of providing basic needs and shelter in institutional settings gradually shifted towards the more nurturing and individualized family-like environment of foster care. Today, thanks to a deeper understanding of the psychological and developmental needs of children and the importance of stable family relationships to their well-being, families remain together whenever possible.

In efforts to keep families together, county child welfare agencies are now utilizing family preservation services that seek to strengthen the functioning of the family unit in hopes of preventing removals before they occur. While the demand for these services has increased significantly since the passing of the Family First Prevention Services Act in 2018, Pressley Ridge has been providing preservation-based programs for more than 15 years.

The Crisis Stabilization and Family Preservation (CSFP) program was designed by Pressley Ridge in conjunction with Beaver County Children and Youth Services (CYS) to serve families who are involved with the child welfare or juvenile justice systems and are at risk of needing out-of-home care, such as emergency shelter placement.

Families experience crises for many reasons. Whether it’s an adolescent acting out or running away, a parent who is struggling to care for their own mental health, or a lack of resources leading to homelessness or food shortage, a quick and attentive response can contain the crisis and prevent it from separating family members.

Once a family determines they are in crisis and calls the hotline, the Pressley Ridge Crisis Stabilization Team responds via phone within one hour and attempts an in-person meeting to identify immediate safety risks within 24 hours. Families commit to the program for a minimum of 30 days, with most receiving services for four to eight weeks. During meetings, the team assesses the needs of each family member, provides parenting, coping and problem-solving skills, and teaches youth to make safe decisions with the goal of allowing them to remain in their home.

The Pressley Ridge CSFP program began serving families in Beaver County in 2009. Prior to the program, youth in crisis were removed from the home and placed into shelter before CYS evaluated the needs of the child and family, which left many children in out-of-home placement indefinitely due to the parent or child’s reluctance to engage in services.

Amy Fenn, Senior Director at Pressley Ridge, has overseen the program since its inception. “The ultimate objective is to reduce trauma and keep families together,” Fenn said. “By responding to the crisis as it is happening or shortly after, we are able to offer the family support and interventions while connecting them with behavioral health services and community- based supports, such as therapy, insurance, and resources to meet their basic needs.”

Prior to the implementation of the CSFP program, Beaver County spent nearly $495,000 to place 57 youth in emergency shelters in 2008. By 2016, the county had reduced emergency placements to 11 youth at a cost of $48,000. In the most recent fiscal year 2023, Beaver County reports only four youth were placed into shelter for a total cost of $22,715.

Joshua Edenhofer, Administrator of Beaver County Children and Youth Services, believes the CSFP program has been instrumental in helping the county keep children in their homes and out of placement settings.

“This program has been integral in Beaver County to help prevent out-of-home placements and has been significantly successful in helping families navigate through complex systems to find the appropriate care for their family,” Edenhofer said. “Pressley Ridge has actively collaborated with the county child welfare agency, juvenile probation, mental health providers, courts, schools, and any other system in which a family has been involved to provide support to families.”

In the past year, Pressley Ridge served 107 youth in Beaver County through the Crisis Stabilization and Family Preservation program. 92% of those youth remained at home with their families.

The success of this program in Beaver County prompted expansion into Washington, Fayette, Westmoreland, and York Counties in Pennsylvania over the past 11 years. Over the next five years, Pressley Ridge plans to expand CFSP into counties within the other six states served by the organization, which includes Ohio, West Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, Virginia and Texas.

McKeesport Area School District forms YESS team through Project SEEKS SES grant

By Jeremy Tepper, ALLEGHENY INTERMEDIATE UNIT

 

About a year ago, McKeesport Area’s administration had heard about Pressley Ridge’s YESS (Youth Engagement Support Services) team model.

The YESS team — which was piloted at the Penn Hills School District — focuses on helping address issues like truancy, while also assisting in de-escalation, interventions and generally trying to create a more positive environment in schools.

While McKeesport was intrigued by the idea of contracting their own YESS team, budget concerns left them putting the idea on the backburner. Fast forward, and McKeesport now finds itself developing its own YESS team, thanks to funding from Project SEEKS SES, a partnership between the Allegheny Intermediate Unit (AIU) and the Allegheny County Health Department (ACHD) that addresses trauma, behavior and mental health issues in ten school districts.

“SEEKS has been wonderful in providing these opportunities, because without it our school district would probably not have been able to implement it this year,” said Angela Cale, McKeesport Area’s Coordinator of Special Education and Alternative Services.

McKeesport’s YESS team will be comprised of seven members — six youth engagement specialists and one lead youth engagement specialist. The team will focus on grades 6-12, with three of the members spending their time at Founder’s Hall Middle School and three at the McKeesport Area Senior High School. While accessing strengths and weaknesses after the COVID-19 pandemic during asset mapping for the grant, McKeesport found that they had an acute need for further support in their targeted grades.

“As we did our asset mapping, we saw that we had a lot of supports in our elementary school and those supports kind of fall off once you hit 6th grade,” Cale said. “We saw that when we compared suspension data, expulsion data and overall discipline data, that where those supports dropped off was where our greatest need was at.”

Cale said decreasing out of class time will be a primary aim of the YESS team, helping address truancy and issues in a classroom that might ordinarily result in an office referral. Cale anticipates the team will assist with student entry in the morning and dismissal at the end of the day, while also hanging around in high traffic areas that might not usually have too many adults present. During classes, they will walk through the halls and keep their eyes and ears alert for issues inside or outside the classroom.

The YESS team, Cale believes, will be tremendously helpful in not only helping support students, but taking some burden off of teachers.

“We hope that they impact our students in school to have an increase in better grades, a decrease in behavior issues brought into the school, but also to provide support to the students about things that are available and constructive in our community, so that we eventually decrease some of the behavioral incidents that occur in the community,” Cale said.

“They could take things that are happening in the community and meet with small groups in the school to try to quell some of those situations. They will also look at some of the students that have a higher incidence of behavior issues and work with reaching out to families and making sure that they’re checking in with those students to provide daily support.”

Regardless of the student, providing regular check-ins and being a consistent presence is key to the YESS team’s success, said Michele Woodward, the satellite program director at Pressley Ridge. All Pressley Ridge staff is trained in de-escalation skills, restorative practices and trauma-informed care, which makes them particularly effective in being able to earn trust.

“We take on the approach of meeting the students where they are and working from there. We don’t push them before they’re ready but we are a constant presence for them,” said Woodward.

“We give them an opportunity to seek us out when they need to. We do daily check-ins. It could be a simple just saying hello, but if you do that consistently, then over time that trust gets built and they start seeking you out.”

Jesse McLean, Pressley Ridge’s Executive Director of Pennsylvania, added similar thoughts, noting that Pressley Ridge data indicates that a child is much more likely to be successful if they have trust in an adult in their life.

“We do this by trying to be very proactive in engaging with the students, and building that relationship and rapport so that they feel comfortable talking to us about things before they occur,” McLean said.

“As the saying goes, it takes a village in order to create an impact. We’re just trying to be that one layer, so they know when they come to school, they have an adult that they can trust.”

Should I Take My ADHD Medicine Every Day?

By Sonia Welch, M.D.

Should I take my ADHD medicine every day? This is a question I hear often from my patients, and my response is always: Do you only wear glasses on days you want to see?

ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) is a potentially lifelong disorder that can rob you of your ability to fulfill promises to yourself and others, your ability to relate to those around you in meaningful ways, and your ability to really see what’s going on around you. You find yourself, in most arenas, getting in your own way, and you just can’t get a handle on your thoughts and actions.

The long-term benefits of treating ADHD are truly life-changing, but you only get those benefits with daily dosing. These include increased likelihood of having a long-term romantic relationship, finishing high school or college and staying off drugs and alcohol, as well as decreased likelihood of jail time, teen pregnancy, developing anxiety or depression and developing PTSD following exposure to trauma.

I’d argue that, if you only pick one place to take your ADHD medication, you should take it in the place where your relationships are most likely to build resilience – at home. ADHD can interfere with academics and work performance, but that’s not typically the most important way that ADHD interferes with life. ADHD mostly interferes with relationships, and it’s been shown time and again that it’s our relationships that lead to a fulfilling life. Since we have relationships in all parts of our lives, patients need to take ADHD medication every day.

If there is something you don’t like about your ADHD medication, work with your doctor to find a medication that works best for you. When you take it, you should feel like your best self. It might not be the first or even the second medication you try. Your relationship with your doctor needs to be open enough that you can provide feedback on how you feel with the chosen medication. The goal is to find something with which you feel like the best version of yourself, where you are in control of your own thoughts. After all, it is only by controlling our thoughts that we have control over our emotions, and our emotions drive our behavior.

Since it all starts with our thoughts, I encourage you to take your medication daily as recommended by your doctor.

Duquesne to expand Pressley Ridge services through Project SEEKS SES

By Jeremy Tepper, ALLEGHENY INTERMEDIATE UNIT 

The Duquesne City School District makes equity a priority. On a day-to-day basis, the district is constantly looking for new ways to properly access and educate each and every student equally.

Lucy McDonough, the district’s special education consultant, has furthered those efforts since joining the district this school year.

“That’s been a goal of mine, to build the resources and the capacity within Duquesne to be able to educate all of their students in the district,” McDonough said. “That’s what we’re working toward and we’re going to keep building on that.”

McDonough has helped connect the district with Pressley Ridge, who provides districts with specialized education services, among other things. This school year, Duquesne City and Pressley Ridge have partnered to have two behavioral support staff. The support staff has been so successful that Duquesne City has planned an expansion.

Currently, the district has Pressley Ridge behavioral support staff in one classroom. The plan is to expand that support staff to three classrooms.

“Pressley Ridge has been instrumental in supporting our teacher and the K-2 students as they display mental and behavioral issues. They have helped the students be able to self-advocate, as well as create a schedule that helps the students gain an understanding of their day and what the expectations are,” said Duquesne City superintendent Dr. Sue Mariani.

“The students and the teacher have been able to establish a structure within the classroom where the students are starting to feel successful inside the classroom. We are thrilled with our partnership and look forward to expanding in the future.”

Such an expansion is possible through Project SEEKS SES, an AIU and ACHD grant-funded collaboration to address social and emotional health issues exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Duquesne City was picked by the ACHD as one of ten districts to receive funding from the grant.

“We partnered with Pressley Ridge to provide a higher level of service within our emotional support classrooms, so that we could keep kids in the district, and hopefully make it a quicker return to their regular education classrooms,” McDonough said.

“They have a model they use with two behavioral support staff in one classroom that work alongside the teacher to address the social skills and the emotional needs of the kids, behavioral interventions, and provide a level of support that we don’t typically have here.”

Currently, the support staff is just in a K-2 classroom, which generally affects 8-12 students. With next school year’s expansion, the district will be able to impact roughly 24 or 25 students. Michele Woodward oversees all of Pressley Ridge’s satellite programs. She said her staff’s training makes them particularly qualified to handle the support that Duquesne City needs.

“All of our staff in satellite programs are trained in CPI (Crisis Prevention Intervention). They get training on trauma-informed practices and we also train them on restorative practices,” Woodward said. “We try to take on a more restorative approach with all of the students.”

Woodward said there has been a greater need for emotional and behavioral support staff in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“I think it has come to the forefront since COVID. The students spent their time learning and socializing through electronic devices,” Woodward said.

“Now that they’re back in the classroom for in person learning, it has been a challenge. We’re really seeing it with some of the younger students who started school during the pandemic. They’re adjusting to what it is like to be in school. For some of the older students, I just think it’s something they have got used to. It’s taking some time to transition back.”

Pressley Ridge’s staff and Duquesne City’s staff collaborate as a team by identifying the needs of each student in the targeted classroom and making a plan for them. Pressley Ridge then keeps track of behavioral data and meets as a team with Duquesne on a weekly basis.

Beyond providing staff, Pressley Ridge has also provided some of Duquesne City’s staff with some of the same trauma-informed training that they have, and Woodward said they were very receptive to it. McDonough is hopeful that this collaborative spirit will help raise the skill level of the district’s staff.

“The goal is that we get immersed in hands-on behavioral interventions and we see it in action,” McDonough said.

“Always the goal of doing anything like this is that we’re able to sustain this and build the capacity in the district to do this.”

Social Media Posts and Feeling Invisible

By Sonia Welch, M.D.

If you post but no one responds, do you even exist?

Your social media post didn’t get the likes and comments you hoped for. You put yourself out there. No one said anything; no one cared. By now, many of us are aware of the studies linking hours of scrolling to severity of low self-worth. (Do we even need better confirmation that comparison is the thief of joy?) But posting online, not just scrolling, can directly worsen a sense of social isolation.

Posting online creates the sense that you must always be responding to someone in order to be seen, or you always need to post and get likes or comments in order to exist. This new and common experience easily perpetuates a sense of isolation, unworthiness, and that you are just not good enough.

Talk to your teens about their experiences online. Talk about their expectations for posting. Talk about how much it can hurt not to get any comments. When other people’s ego is magnified, your ego shrinks.

Your friend’s sister walks past without noticing you in the hall this morning as she is absorbed in thought about the crazy-hard math test she just took. That moment wasn’t recorded for you to view over and over again. You aren’t checking back to see if she looked now. Or now. Or now…. hours later. We don’t have the chance to dwell and hope that it could happen. Any. Second. Now. Refresh. Online, however, your posting failure is permanently out there. Your next post will have to be more dramatic for people to notice, or maybe you just don’t matter enough to try again.

Why doesn’t anyone care about what you’re saying? Because, in general, most people are focused on themselves. That’s right, I said it. You, in your post, mostly care about yourself and your own experience. Your readers, as they see your post, mostly care about how it relates to them. Social media seems to highlight the basic human experience of egocentricity.

While there are positives to using social media – like keeping up with the lives of faraway family and friends – there are many potential risks, including this feeling of invisibility that can grow to self-loathing and depression. If your teens are using social media (as 75% of them are), it’s important to discuss your family’s rules for social media use and to help them learn to use these sites responsibly. In this article from the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, you can find lists of potential risks to be aware of and suggestions for safe and appropriate social media use.