A well-trained crisis and safety crisis response team
A well-trained crisis and safety crisis response team plays a significant role in identifying and intervening with suicidal students. Recognizing and acting upon suicidal thinking and behaviors is an ethical and legal duty of the school personnel (Reamer, 2014). For Tammy, her case is better since she is courageous and free enough to share her suicidal thoughts even though through writing.
Showing appreciation and seeking clarification
Having read through Tammy's writing as a social worker, it is one's responsibility to look for Tammy to have a successful talk with her. The first thing as a social worker would be to congratulate and show appreciation to Tammy for sharing her thoughts since at fifteen years many teenagers are never in a position to express themselves. The social worker can then revisit Tammy's writing with her to seek more clarification on the various issues propelling her suicidal thoughts.
Focusing on relevant issues and assuring Tammy
It is however unfortunate for Tammy that at the age of 15yrs all she is focusing on is a boyfriend at the expense of her studies and other more relevant issues. The social worker is expected to guide her concerning her problems and assure Tammy that despite all those hardships, life is good and worth living and that suicide is the last thing she should ever think of doing. Tammy should also be assured of the privacy of her information (Capuzzi & Stauffer, 2016) discussed with the social worker since nobody wishes to have their secrets known all over. The social worker should address Tammy's issue of being ignored by her parents since their divorce by encouraging her not to focus much on things beyond her control. Inviting her parents to school and explaining to them what their daughter is going through is also crucial (Joshi et al., 2015). Now that Tammy is intelligent enough, continuous guidance and counseling sessions with close supervision of her undertakings would also serve a significant role in trying to intervene for Tammy.
References
Capuzzi, D., & Stauffer, M. D. (2016). Counseling and psychotherapy: Theories and interventions. John Wiley & Sons.
Joshi, S. V., Hartley, S. N., Kessler, M., & Barstead, M. (2015). School-based suicide prevention: content, process, and the role of trusted adults and peers. Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Clinics, 24(2), 353-370.
Reamer, F. G. (2014). The evolution of social work ethics: Bearing witness. Advances in Social Work, 15(1), 163-181.
