(SNOHOMISH,
WA.) -- It
was the end of an eighth-grade choir field trip and Megan LaPlante and
her
friend were braiding each other’s hair.
“They
were laughing, just girls being
girls,” said Megan’s mom, Susan LaPlante.
Hours
later, the friend took her own
life.
It
wasn’t until the next morning at
school that Megan and her classmates learned about the suicide.
“I
got a call from Megan about 8:15 in the
morning. It was awful,” Susan
LaPlante said. “She couldn’t speak; just sobbing.”
A
year later, the loss still feels
fresh, but Megan is working to turn tragedy into something that may
help
others.
A
freshman at Monroe High School, Megan
is also Miss Washington Teen America and will compete for the national
title, July 15-16 in San
Antonio, Texas.
As
part of the pageant, each contestant
is required to have an advocacy platform, something that they not only
feel
passionately about, but are also supporting with their time and voice.
After
losing her friend in 2015, Megan decided her platform would be
“Preventing Teen
Suicide through Hope and Awareness.”
It
wasn’t an easy choice.
“Megan
wasn’t sure,” Susan LaPlante
said. “It’s so personal and so difficult. We talked about it a lot. I
told her,
‘You need to talk about it for yourself. And, it can help
others.’”
While
she’ll be taking the message to
the national stage, Megan’s first opportunity to speak publicly on the
subject
came June 23 at Sno-Isle Libraries’ "Issues That Matter" forum on
teen suicide at Snohomish Library.
She
will speak at similar forums on July 7th in
Stanwood and July
21st in
Oak Harbor.
At
the Snohomish event,
the public packed the meeting room. Megan was on the panel with two
experts on
the issue, Dr. Gary Goldbaum, Director of the Snohomish Health
District, and Rena Fitzgerald, manager of the Care Crisis Chat line at
Volunteers of America Western Washington in Everett.
When
it was her turn to speak, Megan’s
voice was charged with emotion.
“It’s
such a big issue, but not a lot of
people know about it,” Megan said later. “People don’t touch on it.
Parents
don’t learn about this and kids die. They don’t know, but they should
know
about this.”
The
path to suicide, why some choose it
and others don’t, can be difficult to understand. From Megan’s
perspective, one
important thing to do is just be there for someone who reaches out.
“If
they’ve opened up to you, they are
trusting you and thinking you will do something and possibly stop it,”
Megan
said. “Just hang out as much as possible and make them feel loved and
welcome
because they are, they really are.
“There
are things that you can do. Say,
‘Come on over,’ or ‘Go to a movie with me.’ And if they say,
‘Leave me
alone,’ tell them, ‘No, you’re hurting, I’m staying with you.’”
Part
of Megan’s platform is to work with
the American Foundation for
Suicide
Prevention.
The
organization works with local
supporters to sponsor "Out of the Darkness Walks" to raise money for
suicide prevention work.
Fellow
panelist Fitzgerald and Denise
Bathurst, a Mukilteo School District counselor, are organizing a walk
for Oct.
15 at Legion
Park in Everett.
While
choosing to speak about teen
suicide wasn’t easy for Megan, the response at the Issues That Matter
Forum
convinced her that it was the right choice.
“A
girl came up to me after it was over
to say how much it helped,” Megan said.
Susan
LaPlante had a similar experience
with a parent.
“The
father of a boy who died in April
came up and said Megan’s comments were so relevant. It was very
confirming,”
Susan LaPlante said. “That night was amazing.”
_________________________________________________
Information
for this report was provided
by Sno-Isle Libraries
___________________________________________________________
Issues That Matter – Teen
Suicide
Three more
Issues That Matter forums on teen
suicide are scheduled:
·
July 7, Stanwood
Camano Community
Resource Center, 9612 271st St. NW, Stanwood
·
July 13, Rosehill Community Center,
304
Lincoln Ave., Mukilteo
·
July 21, Oak Harbor Library, 1000
SE
Regatta Dr., Oak Harbor
All
events start at 6:30
p.m. They
are open and free to the
public with funding provided by the Sno-Isle Libraries
Foundation. The
forums feature panels of experts and community members to
discuss what can
be done about teen suicide.
·
Reading list
Online
resources
·
Island County: Youth and
Mental Health
·
Snohomish County
Health District suicide prevention resources
·
National Suicide Prevention
Lifeline (800-273-8255)
·
Society for the Prevention
of Teen Suicide
·
Stanwood Camano Community
Action
·
Suicide in Island County:
Island County Board of Health
Presentation
·
The Trevor Project
·
University of Washington
Forefront
·
Volunteers of America Care
Crisis Chat (800-584-3578)
·
Washington Recovery Help
Line Teen Link
·
Washington State 2-1-1
·
Washington State Department
of Health Youth Suicide
Prevention
·
Washington State Youth
Suicide Prevention Program
Library
research resources
·
Gale Virtual Reference
Library
·
MasterFILE Premier
·
Opposing Viewpoints in
Context
ProQuest Family Health