MANHATTAN — Amid concerns about students’ reactions to the Netflix series “13 Reasons Why,” with its graphic depiction of teen suicide, the Department of Education sent a letter to principals this week with some guidance on how to help their communities process the show.
The letter — from Jaye Murray, executive director of the Office of Counseling Support Programs, and Lois Herrera, CEO of the Office of Safety and Youth Development — provides links to support organizations like the National Association of School Psychologists and the Jed Foundation, a suicide-prevention program aimed at teens.
It also reminds schools that suicide-awareness training is available to all schools and provides a template for a letter that principals could send home to families, if they chose to do so.
“It has come to our attention that there is a series on Netflix called ‘13 Reasons Why.’ It is based on a young adult novel that explores suicide, bullying, sexual assault, substance abuse, depression and anxiety in teens,” Murray and Herrera wrote. “It is important to be prepared for conversations that may occur among our students regarding this show, around depression, mental health and suicide.”
The show has sparked concern among experts, who fear it could contribute to the “contagion” effect and how it portrays the way the character — who sends 13 cassette tapes to friends and acquaintances detailing their role in her decline — tries to get revenge.
Leaders from the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, the American School Counselor Association and the National Association of School Psychologists worried the show could contribute to such an effect and issued guidance on how discussions about the show could prevent it, according to Newsweek.
“I believe unintentionally the producers really did kind of romanticize the suicide, and that is one of the reasons that contagion is a true concern here,” Dr. Christine Moutier, chief medical officer at the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, told Newsweek.
Schools across the country are trying to open up dialogue about the popular show, and Netflix said it added explicit warnings to the three most graphic episodes as well as a warning before the first episode, the Washington Post reported.
Figures from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for 2014, which is the most recent data available, showed that the number of deaths by suicide among children ages 10 to 14 for the first time was greater than the number of deaths by traffic accidents for that age group.
DOE officials hope that principals will be able to engage students about the show.
“We want students to know that we have resources available to support them,” the letter from Murray and Herrera stated. “We encourage students to reach out to adults and use the community resources available to them should they need someone to speak to about sexual abuse, drug use, depression, or if they are considering suicide.”
