What to do when a student writes about suicide
As a mandatory reporter, you must contact a school counselor during the day or request a police welfare check after hours. However, the fear of overreacting or making the situation worse stops teachers from knowing whether they should pull the student aside to talk. They are left torn between the obligation to help and the risk that direct intervention will cause the student to withdraw completely.
What the numbers show
Counted from the threads quoted below. How we count
- The most recent one is from October 2026.
- 2 of the 4 people here also raised “Why are students coming to class missing basic foundational skills?”
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
Found another way around this?
Share your steps and trade-offs so fellow engineers don't have to reinvent the wheel. No account required.
- 1Contacting school administrators, principals, and counseling teams immediately via phone call and emailDid this help you?
- 2Fulfilling mandated reporter duties by looping in school psychologists and leadershipDid this help you?
- 3contacting the school counselor if the threat happens during the school dayDid this help you?
- 4calling the police for an after-hours welfare check to cover legal liabilityDid this help you?
In their words
Unedited, grouped by where they were said, most upvoted first within each place, each linked to the thread it came from.
“One girl got a 73% on her test, and she commented on the grade "omg, what if I killed myself?"”source ↗
“If it happened during the day, I would've just contacted the counselor, but since it was after hours, I did call the police to do a welfare check, both to be on the safe side and to cover myself.”source ↗
“The student now basically won't talk to me at all, avoids eye contact, etc. Did I overreact here? Should I have done something differently?”source ↗
“I’ve been in the same situation and even had my life threatened as a result. Mandatory reporter. No question about obligation.”source ↗
“I’m not sure if me pulling him to talk would be helpful or harmful. What are the best practical next steps?”source ↗
“his langue is raising a lot alarm bells for me, but I don’t want to make anything worse for him, either.”source ↗
“I lost a former student to suicide during COVID and wished more than anything that I knew what they were experiencing so that I could have reached out to them.”source ↗
Where this came up
People with this problem also raised
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- 2How to go back to work after a coworker's suicide
- 6What to do when students mock your appearance