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Instructions: For each scenario below, write down any words or actions that you believe show the character might be at risk for suicide. (Red flags = warning signs.) Also write what you could do to help in each situation.

1. Leila hasn't been the same since her mom died. It's been especially tough because she doesn't get along with her dad. For months, she's been saying that if it weren't for her boyfriend, Dillon, she wouldn't have anyone who cares about her. But Dillon just broke up with her and Leila is devastated. She talks about needing to end her pain and just last night told you where the key to her diary was in case anyone wants to read it "afterward."

A. Red Flags

B. How can I help?

2. Oliver comes from a family of perfectionists. In Oliver's family, the expectation is that he'll go to an Ivy League college, just like his parents and his sister did. But he just took his SATs for the third time and his scores aren't high enough. He thinks his grades might drop this semester, too. He's so worried about not getting into a top college and letting his family down that he hasn't been able to sleep or eat. His parents also grounded him for getting the family car in a fender-bender. Without access to a car he lost his part-time job delivering pizzas. He keeps saying how he's tired of feeling like a disappointment and he sees no way out.

A. Red Flags

B. How can I help?

3. Ben is the most talented actor at school, but he didn't show for rehearsals this week and hasn't told anyone why. You thought he might have the flu or something like that, until you see him under the bleachers after school. He's totally drunk. When you ask him what's going on, he confides that he recently came out to his parents and it didn't go well. They told him to get out of the house. He's staying with his aunt for now, and he just found out she keeps a gun in her nightstand. He says he bets his parents wouldn't even miss him if he were gone.

4. When Jolie's cousin Mara, who was more like a sister to her, committed suicide, Jolie was the one to find her. Jolie says that since then, no matter how hard she tries to move on, she feels like she's just going through the motions. Her grades dropped and never went back up. She also quit field hockey and track and hasn't played sports since. Soon it will be 1-year anniversary of Mara's death, and Jolie's friends have been trying to keep her mind off of it. They invite her places, but she never goes. They text her, but she turns off her phone. Last night she tweeted, "Mara had it right. #abetterplace."

A. Red Flags

B. How can I help?

5. Charles hates school because he gets bullied a lot. He has ADHD and has repeated a grade. Charles used to spend a lot of time playing video games with his older brother, Robert. But Robert joined the Army, and now Charles spends most of his time alone. Sometimes he skips school and it seems like when he's not sleeping, he's eating. He tells you that he'd like to talk more with his mom, but she's exhausted when she gets home from her second job. He says he'd probably be doing her a favor if she didn't have to worry about him anymore.