Alberta high school students raise funds and awareness for suicide prevention

EDMONTON – Preliminary data shows the number of teen suicides in Alberta more than doubled last year. The trend has pushed one community to find ways to prevent future tragedies.

Over the span of 12 months, Red Deer saw at least five high school students take their own lives.

The city is now looking for answers, but also looking for ways to raise awareness, and young people in that community seem to be leading the charge.

“Everyone I’ve talked to is like, ‘I wish I could have done something. I wish they could have seen how much we loved them,’” shares Madison Fertig.

Fertig is a student at Notre Dame High School in Red Deer. February 10, her friend Kale Williams took his own life.

“We were actually friends since kindergarten and playschool,” says Fertig.

“He had that really special quality of meeting someone and making them feel so comfortable.”

According to preliminary data from the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, the province recorded 33 pediatric suicides in 2012. In the last 12 months, the Red Deer Public School district has had four students take their own lives. Three attended the same public school. 17-year-old Williams was a student at Notre Dame, in the Catholic School District.

“You know, you’ll be sitting around with a group of friends, laughing, because he was such a clown. He always made me laugh,” shares Fertig. “You’ll talk about the happy times and then you’ll be sitting in your bed at night and thinking of it, you just get in this slump.”

However, local teenagers say they couldn’t sit idle, and decided to find a way to prevent more loss.

“It’s a problem in Red Deer and surrounding areas,” says Fertig. “We wanted to make a change.”

So, when it came time for the Notre Dame Grad Committee to choose a cause to support with its fundraising efforts, suicide awareness and prevention was selected.

“It was a unanimous decision.”

More than two dozen grad teams – which include six students, a parent, and a teacher – raise funds to support the cause through bake sales, consignment clothing sales, restaurant nights, and even a charity hockey game.

“My team, and a lot of Kale’s really close guy friends, actually formed a hockey game which was called Winning for Willms, and we raised thirty grand,” explains Fertig.

“We had people coming in with hundred dollar bills, and just being like, ‘keep the change.’”

In total, the Grad Committee has raised over $130,000 for suicide prevention and education.

“We’re giving it directly to Suicide Information and Education Services in Red Deer,” says Fertig.

She explains the organization had to cancel all their high school presentations this year due to lack of funding, so the Grad Committee’s support will help expand and support programming.

“I have to say, I never really thought we would pick it. It’s a little bit of a taboo thing. But we got the presentation, and I was absolutely floored. I left the room in tears. It changed everything.”

Fertig feels Suicide Information and Education Services offers a crucial service; sparking conversation about suicide and mental health with youth and children, even at the elementary level.

“They have kids in elementary schools saying ‘I felt like this and I really need help.’ You don’t hear about that and I think it was that point that we were like, ‘this needs to be fixed, now.’”

The overwhelming response to the fundraising campaign has been a huge support for the Williams family.

“I always thought he was a good kid, but as parents you think that,” says Kale’s mother Nicole. “But when something like this happens, you don’t realize… I didn’t realize how many people he touched.”

It’s also encouraging school officials to consider what more can be done to address this growing problem.

“I would love nothing more than to have dedicated mental health individuals who were on site within schools,” says Red Deer Public Schools Superintendent Piet Langstraat.

Langstraat adds colleagues in education and mental health fields have told him this is a discussion that needs to happen early.

“High school really is too late,” he explains.

Health Minister Fred Horne says despite the efforts and resources in Alberta, the increase in teen suicides is still happening, and something must be done.

“For me the most important thing is that we are equipped to offer assistance and support in the early stage of someone’s difficulty.”

Horne says educating children as early as elementary school about suicide and mental health is a possibility.

“I think you’ve hit the nail on the head when you talk about discussing this openly at a young age, making it ok to talk about mental health.”

As for Fertig, this cause is something she’ll be talking about for a very long time.

“I see this as always being a part of my life,” she says.

“I just want to spread that word that people are here for you all the time.”

The Support Network’s Crisis Support Centre:

24 Hour Distress Line (780) 482-HELP (4357)

Rural Distress Line (1-800-232-7288)

With files from Laurel Clark
Follow @Emily_Mertz