Dallas Middle School Holds Meeting About Suicide Concerns
DALLAS (CBS 11 NEWS) - The suicide of a Spence Middle School student in December followed by what the Dallas ISD said were other "possible suicide attempts" has promoted the school to hold a parents meeting.
"It certainly needs to be addressed," said Maxim Potter, a grandmother of a student a Spence Middle School. "Parents need to be aware of what's happening."
The Dallas school has asked parents to come to a meeting Thursday night, where the school hopes parents will learn tips on how to start a conversation with their teenager about suicide – a conversation Raina and Tim Clark said they wish they could still have.
"If this could happen to us, it could happen to anybody," said Tim Clark.
Last April their 15-year-old happy, volleyball-playing, free-spirited daughter committed suicide.
The Rockwall parents said they never saw it coming.
"The night before I had taken her to a volleyball practice, and it was the same old Hanna – goofing-off, playing around with the girls, cutting-up, and laughing," said Clark.
The Clarks said their daughter never exhibited the signs of being suicidal so the topic never came up.
It's their one regret.
"Everyone has that stigma that if you talk about it, you are putting the idea in their head," said Hanna's mother, Raina. "But believe me it's already in their head."
The Clarks have started a foundation, Hanna 4 Hope, with the goal of bringing suicide to the forefront.
Meetings like the one Thursday night at Spence Middle School, they said, could be a life-saving start.
Raina Clark said, "If I could do all over again, I would sit her down and tell her when you have a bad day that's a temporary problem that you are having. The next day is going to be better. I promise."
(©2014 CBS Local Media, a division of CBS Radio Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
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