Teens urge parental involvement at suicide summit
Published: October 8th, 2010 11:09 PM
Last Modified: October 8th, 2010 11:09 PM
ANCHORAGE, Alaska - Distraught over the suicides of their friends, teens from Southwest Alaska fought back tears as they pleaded with parents to connect with children. They blamed the deaths on family abuse, bullying, alcoholism and other problems.
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Now is not the time to be quiet, they said Monday at a suicide roundtable convened in Bethel by Sen Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska.
"I myself was thinking suicidal," said Anna Stone, a 15-year old from Hooper Bay. "But my friends, they were talking to me about if I was gone ... who's going to take your part in your family? And that really got me thinking."
Stone bit her lip and trembled during a long stretch of silence. She said keeping quiet will cost more lives.
"Talking to your kids would help a lot and building a relationship and having family meetings would help a lot," she said.
Read more: http://www.adn.com/2010/10/08/1493312/teens-urge-parental-involvement.html#ixzz123Jn6yVX