This story hits close to home, as my dad was a HS principal most of his career…& most of the contacts we coordinate programs w, are principals as well.
If you remember not too long ago, we lost Greg Eells – UPenn’s head of counseling, considered to be the country’s resiliency expert, to suicide.
How could this happen to someone who’d saved so many other lives? Someone who was an expert in helping folks avoid this very outcome.
When our Schools Director & I go to visits, we see the hurt, struggle, & pain in the eyes of the administrators – yes the teachers & school professionals who are on the front lines too, but…admins really wear it on their faces. They’re usually the LAST ones who work on themselves, bc they’re busy making sure everyone ELSE is ok. Again I saw this w my father in the 90s when drugs were a huge issue in schools. I remember him up to all hrs working w school officials, & fams impacted, to try to find the best help for the students involved.
So how can this happen to administrators? It happens bc they’re often the last ones to focus on the work needed to release & rewire the stress & trauma from their OWN system. They have to be the “strong” ones as leaders, who keep it all together. But we’re ALL humans, & we are ALL susceptible to system breakdowns, which is exactly what suicide is.
I’m upset & angry. I know accounts like ours are targeted for suppression. If you follow us in Stories, you know we call that stuff out, bc the numbers are pretty black/white. But when a story like this drops, I REALLY get upset & angry even more so. Why? Bc of all the posts we share – posts abt school visits, school programs, college visits – those are suppressed the MOST – look at our last few.
I can only guess why – we teach an on the ground, no silver bullet, no pill as a cure, PROGRAM. That goes against everything SOLD on these channels. If what we & others (who confide in me/us) post is suppressed, ppl still feel alone – like there are no answers. They have to defer to the “old way” – getting a label, & a pill only, for it. It’s defeating bc I wonder how many more could be saved if msgs weren’t suppressed :(.
