Like most kids her age, 14-year-old Claire Tietgen spends a lot of her time on social media.
But instead of posting selfies, she posts about self-esteem.
"You can do serious damage," said the eighth-grader, who says classmates have bullied her since kindergarten. "The kids who were being mean to me, you ruined my life by bullying me. Every year it gets better but then it gets worse and worse. We are older, so we have more words that we use, we have more bad words that we use and it gets kind of ugly, but then me being bullied and having experience, I get used to it."
A few years ago, suicide seemed like Claire's only way out. That's when instead of taking her life, she took action and started the anti-bullying organization Bullied but Not Broken.
According to a federal report, the suicide rate among American middle schoolers doubled between 2007 to 2014 and for the first time ever surpassed the number of kids who died in car accidents.
"That just breaks my heart," said Claire. "Who's helping them? Who's their parents? It breaks my heart that they have to choose suicide over getting help, over dealing with it."
While the number of young people who die by suicide might shock many people, Dr. Jennifer Keller, an adolescent psychologist at Truman Medical Lakewood Counseling, said the number does not surprise her. She treats patients who struggle with self esteem issues and suicidal ideation.
"If we look at 5 to 14 year olds, it's the third leading cause of death," she explained. "In the field we treat it as though it starts in adolescence. It doesn't start in adolescence. We know that it starts younger. We need to spend more time with that age group for treatment options."
Dr. Keller said it's important for parents and teachers to find doctors that provide evidence-based treatment so that kids can get the help they need.
Resources:
If you or someone you know is having thoughts of suicide, visit the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline or call them at 1-800-273-TALK (1-800-273-8255).
- Coping with suicide loss from American Foundation for Suicide Prevention
- Access Crisis Intervention Hotlines in Missouri
- Kansas Suicide Prevention Resource Center
- Additional resources from Missouri Department of Mental Health
- Additional resources from American Foundation for Suicide Prevention
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Terra Hall can be reached at terra.hall@kshb.com.
