Middle & High School Students

Thank you for choosing SOS teach suicide prevention skills to middle and high school students.

The following implementation guidance is designed to help school staff prepare for successful classroom delivery and provide appropriate follow-up for students who may need support. Thoughtful planning helps ensure suicide prevention education is delivered safely, effectively, and in a way that supports all students.

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Access Instructions
Timing
Staffing
Preparing Trusted Adults
Teaching Overview
Individual Student Support

Access Instructions

All planning materials and supporting resources for SOS for Middle and High School Students are available below.

To access the lessons and teaching materials, login to teach.sossignsofsuicide.org using your school’s shared username and password. If you do not know your school’s username and password, reach out to your school’s lead implementer. If you do not know who your school’s lead implementer is or if the person in that role has changed, email sostech@riversidecc.org. 

For additional information about accessing teaching materials, click here to view our frequently asked login questions.

Timing

  • Review all implementation guidance: Understanding the SOS for Students process from universal classroom education to individual student support will help staff determine the best timing for each step of the process. Utilize this planning checklist to check off key steps.
  • Consider a pilot: New schools should consider piloting lessons with a few classrooms before delivering schoolwide. Piloting allows staff to ensure adequate lesson preparation time, practice teaching techniques, gather student feedback, and refine follow-up procedures for students seeking support.
  • One class period: Most schools teach the main lesson in a single class period per group of students. Some schools divide the lesson into multiple class periods. If dividing the lesson across multiple days, end each session with an exit slip allowing students to request support.
  • Classroom-by-classroom: Lessons are designed for classroom instruction with opportunities for student discussion and should not be presented in an assembly/large group environment. To teach an entire school or grade level, plan a classroom-by-classroom approach. While suicide prevention is often taught in Health classes, SOS can be integrated into any class to maximize student participation without altering schedules.
  • When to teach: On average, schools teaching the lessons with fidelity find that approximately 15% of students request a follow-up conversation with school staff via the exit slip. Schools should balance lesson times and follow-up procedures accordingly. To ensure staff are available for timely follow-up, plan to teach a limited number of classes per day and avoid lessons during the last period of the day, on Friday afternoons, and before a holiday break.
  • Prepare students: Inform students about the lesson in advance (sample email/letter) and provide the opportunity to raise questions or concerns. Be mindful of students who may have been impacted by suicide loss or personal suicide risk and consider consulting with the student and their parent/caregiver in advance to review the materials and determine the most appropriate level of participation. If needed, prepare an alternative lesson for those not participating. Also, plan for any student who may need a break during the lesson and ensure teaching staff know the plan to announce the students in the classroom.
  • Prevention following a loss: Evidence-based suicide education is an important strategy for supporting students following a suicide death in the community and for reducing risk of suicide contagion. SOS is often taught a few months following a death in the community. For additional guidance on using SOS in a postvention context, contact sosinfo@riversidecc.org.

Staffing

  • Classroom facilitators: Any trusted adult can teach SOS including classroom teachers, school-based mental health staff, and community partners. Co-teaching is encouraged when possible. No additional training is needed, but new facilitators should have preparation time to review the lesson materials and presentation. Ensure facilitators feel safe and supported in their role as suicide prevention educators. Provide alternative plans for staff who do not feel comfortable teaching suicide prevention and encourage facilitators to practice self-care and access available supports as needed (ex. employee assistance program, local mental health resources, 988).
  • School-based mental health staff: When scheduling staff, consider skills needed to check in with students, make parent phone calls, facilitate referrals, and handle any immediate mental health needs. If key staff will be teaching the lesson, ensure that they have enough time to handle these responsibilities as well. Consider calling on colleagues across the district for support.
  • Community mental health: Some students require additional assessment and support. Review your school’s or district’s procedures for connecting students to appropriate services, whether through school-based resources or community providers. Coordinate with community mental health partners in advance and familiarize yourself with their referral procedures to ensure timely access to care.

Preparing Trusted Adults

All SOS lessons encourage students to seek help from trusted adults including school staff, family members, and community helpers. Resources are available to help schools prepare all trusted adults to respond to students in need and connect them to support. 

SOS for K-12 School Staff is a self-led, one hour, online professional development training course designed to prepare elementary, middle, and high school employees to recognize signs of suicide risk in students and connect them with appropriate supports.  Learn more.

SOS Public Parent Page provides families with basic information on the classroom lessons, sample video clips, and suicide prevention education for parents and caregivers. Post/share sossignsofsuicide.org/parents on all parent communications about SOS.

Additional School Staff Resources:

Additional Parent & Caregiver Resources:

Teaching Overview

To access the lessons and teaching materials, login to teach.sossignsofsuicide.org using your school’s shared username and password.

Lessons

  • Components: All lessons include video, guided discussion, depression screening activity, and exit slips. To maintain fidelity to the program and align with the research supporting its effectiveness, review the lesson plan and implement all lesson components as designed.
  • Sequence: Students participating in SOS for the first time should receive the main middle or high school lesson. Refresher lessons are available for students who have already received the main lesson(s). SOS for Middle School Students includes two refresher presentations and SOS for High School Students includes three refresher presentations so schools may provide differentiated video and discussion content for 6-12th grades.
  • Modifications: Some modifications are expected to meet each school’s students’ needs. All student-facing materials, including videos, are available in English and Spanish but many schools use local resources for additional language needs. In order to increase access to suicide prevention education, special education teams often modify lessons to meet their students’ learning needs.

Videos & Discussion

  • Purpose: The video component of the lessons use the ACT (Acknowledge, Care, Tell) framework to teach students how to recognize signs of depression and suicide risk, and how to seek help if they are concerned about a friend. Age-appropriate videos feature real stories and modeled scenarios serve as conversation starters and help normalize talking about mental health. Class discussion also allows facilitators to personalize the lesson by connecting the video content to their students, school community, and available local resources.
  • Process: Classroom facilitators show a series of brief videos and lead classroom discussion after each one. SOS lessons include discussion prompts to help students process what they learned and reinforce key concepts.

Depression Screening Activity

  • Purpose: While the videos focus on helping a friend in need, the screening activity encourages students to reflect on their own well-being and consider whether they may benefit from seeking support. This anonymous, self-scored activity reinforces learning by moving from recognizing warning signs in others to considering how those same signs might show up in one’s own thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. By applying the lesson content to their own experiences, students build self-awareness and are encouraged to seek help from a trusted adult when needed.
  • Process: Facilitators guide the class through each screening question, while students reflect on their responses, score them independently, and review advice tailored to their answers. Screening forms are not collected, and no students are identified through this activity. Instead, students read guidance tailored to their results which encourages them to seek help from a trusted adult if their responses suggest they may be struggling with depression or suicide risk.
  • Important consideration: Research demonstrating the program’s safety and effectiveness evaluated schools using the screening as an anonymous educational tool within the lesson. For questions about this part of the lesson, contact sosinfo@riversidecc.org.

Exit Slips

  • Purpose: Exit slips provide students with a confidential opportunity to request help for themselves or a friend following the lesson.
  • Process: At the conclusion of the lesson, facilitators collect a brief yes/no exit slip from each student indicating whether they would like to speak to an adult. Same day follow-up is recommended. If this is not feasible, set realistic expectations for when students seeking help can expect follow-up.
  • Important consideration: Some students may recognize signs of risk but still choose not to seek help at school. To create a lower-pressure opportunity for students to request support, schools may find it helpful to announce that they will follow up with a random sample of students who participated in the program to gather feedback.

Individual Student Support

  • Student meetings: School staff should follow up with students in a timely and coordinated manner. While many students requesting follow-up are already receiving support, schools regularly report additional students coming forward for the first time. Some students express concerns about a peer at school, at home, or in another school. Plan how your team will provide assistance to both concerned students and identified peers and connect any youth at risk with appropriate supports.
  • Resources: School-based mental health staff’s professional organizations such as the American School Counselor Association (ASCA) and the National Association for School Psychologists (NASP) provide additional guidance for staff providing support for students at risk for suicide.
  • Engaging parents and caregivers: Schools are legally required to promptly disclose a student’s suicide risk to their parents or caregivers. Families should be engaged at each step, from any individual interventions at your school to referral for mental health services/offsite assessment. If you are concerned that notifying a student’s parent would compromise their safety, contact child protective services or police.  
  • Documentation: Follow your school’s policy for documenting individual student follow-up information (date/time of phone call to parent, referral made, school staff next steps, etc.). It is important to document whether a student receives appropriate services in a timely manner and whether school staff need to take additional steps. Consult your school’s legal department for any policy questions.