September is National Suicide Prevention Month, a time to raise awareness about the risk that suicide poses to teens and increase involvement in suicide prevention efforts across the country. At Tamarack Center, our comprehensive adolescent psychiatric treatment program provides targeted support to teens who are experiencing recurring suicidal ideation and helps them get the support they need to rebuild their mental health and flourish in recovery.
Mental health treatment for suicide prevention isn’t necessarily a one-size-fits-all approach, however. There are a number of different reasons that adolescents seriously consider suicide attempts. Preventing suicide is about recognizing the unique challenges that each teen faces, and providing actionable pathways toward building a healthier life.
The Risk of Teen Suicide
Adolescent suicide rates are alarmingly high. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, suicide was the second leading cause of death in 2022 for people between the ages of 10-14 and 25-34. More than one in five teens have seriously considered suicide, with even higher rates among groups such as:
- Adolescent girls
- LGBTQ+ youth
- American Indians and Alaskan Natives
As serious and concerning as these statistics may be, it’s important to recognize that suicide is preventable. Several different efforts need to happen in order to prevent suicide: increasing awareness about the prevalence of suicide among teens, creating healthier cultures in schools and communities, and supporting teens with serious mental health challenges in getting the treatment they need in order to recover.
At Tamarack Center, our team focuses on each of these important components of suicide prevention planning – particularly in helping teens break free from mental health challenges that are holding them back.
How Tamarack Center Supports Teens
Tamarack Center is a comprehensive adolescent psychiatric treatment facility, providing the full spectrum of care for teens and family members who are struggling with suicidal thoughts or mental health conditions that prevent them from thriving. In order to provide the best level of care for our residents, our approach focuses on several different evidence-based strategies to inspire hope, help teens achieve recovery, and build the tools and resources that they’ll need to live healthier, happier lives as adults.
Some of the key components of our supportive teen programs include:
Residential Treatment
Teens who are experiencing recurring thoughts of suicide or have previous suicide attempts typically need mental health care that is with them around the clock. Residential treatment offers the perfect environment for creating this healing space, ensuring that there are always treatment professionals available should they experience a crisis.
At a residential treatment center, teens live on-site at the treatment facility while undergoing psychiatric care. They attend therapy, support groups, psychiatric appointments, and other forms of mental health treatment throughout the week, and live with other teens who are working toward building a better life in recovery.
This structured environment can help provide stability, accelerate the path to healing from mental health challenges, and support teens in overcoming their specific challenges that have led to suicidal ideation.
On-Site Schooling
Education is an important component of the Tamarack Center treatment program. Having your teen attend residential treatment shouldn’t mean that they face setbacks in their education, and our fully accredited on-site school can help teens catch up, keep up, and get ahead in their academic pursuits.
Our teen residents are members of the District 81 School District while attending treatment, and receive fully transferrable credits and transcripts while attending care. Schooling is led by our specially trained Education Coordinator, who provides age-appropriate education plans for each resident while holding space for the mental health challenges teens are affected by.
Evidence-Based Talk Therapy
Tamarack Center provides evidence-based talk therapy to all residents using a modality known as Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT). DBT is a style of treatment that is highly effective for teenagers and teaches a number of core skills that can prevent suicidal ideation and help teens learn to manage and cope with their mental health challenges.
DBT has four main modules of treatment, each focusing on a different core skill to help teens thrive in recovery:
- Mindfulness: The first component of DBT teaches teens to learn to focus their mind on the present moment, and not obsess over the past or stress over the future.
- Distress Tolerance: The second module focuses on helping teens manage difficult events or situations in their lives, not act impulsively in response to stress, and live according to their values.
- Emotion Regulation: Difficult emotions are often a part of life. DBT teaches teens to manage these emotions more skillfully, to balance negative emotions with positive emotions, and to learn strategies to regulate their emotions in the future.
- Interpersonal Effectiveness: The final module focuses on social skills, as well as building and maintaining healthy relationships.
By integrating these modules into both individual and group therapy sessions, teens can learn the skills to navigate all manner of mental health challenges.
Integrative Treatment Teams
Teen mental health isn’t just about specific treatment interventions to prevent suicide. It’s about social connection, family cohesion, physical health, and finding a sense of purpose and meaning. At Tamarack Center, our team isn’t just made up of counselors and psychiatric professionals but contains a full suite of comprehensive services to attend to teenagers’ every possible need.
This includes an on-site nurse, a family specialist, a primary counselor, a psychiatrist, an education coordinator, and a full recreation department. By integrating these several different specialties into one cohesive treatment team, we can address not just mental health challenges, but support teens in creating a sustainable environment for recovery for years to come.
Family Participation
Family members play a key role in the treatment process at Tamarack Center. Parents and caregivers know their teenagers best and play an active role as collaborators in the treatment plan. Further, there are structured family therapy sessions integrated throughout the weekly schedule, providing expert assistance in helping families work through shared challenges and join each other on the path to recovery.
Family participation isn’t just a matter of maintaining the family relationship – but can be one of the most durable and effective strategies for providing long-term support for your teen’s mental health.
Recreation
Resolving mental health challenges can be difficult and draining work. Providing teens with opportunities for recreation, exercise, and creativity can help balance these challenging times with fun and enjoyment, and can often lead to lasting passions and hobbies that can support mental health and quality of life for years to come.
Tamarack Center has a full recreation department dedicated to providing healthy and enjoyable outlets for all of our residents. This includes activities such as softball, swimming, or tennis, as well as music and artistic pursuits.
Get Your Teen Help at Tamarack Center
Suicide prevention awareness is just the first component of stopping this devastating outcome from occurring. If you’ve identified that your child is experiencing severe mental health challenges that have led to them considering suicide, finding treatment is the next step to supporting them in achieving a lasting recovery.
To get started with treatment at Tamarack Center, fill out our online contact form or call our team at (800) 736-3410 to speak to one of our treatment experts. Our team can help determine if Tamarack Center is right for your child’s needs and will be there to support your family on every step of the recovery journey.
