Strengthening Peer and Family Connections in Schools: Preventive Models for Suicide and Self-Harm Risk Reduction

Abstract

Suicide and self-harm among students, long existing, were earlier viewed as outside of educational institutions' direct responsibility, relying mainly on reactive measures or external referrals.  However, recent times with increasing visibility of distress and wide coverage of everyday incidents call for a more active engagement of institutes in prevention. Suicidal vulnerability among youngsters results from multiple interacting factors, including limited emotional vocabulary, alienation, interpersonal difficulties, academic stressors, bullying experiences, and broader social positioning. Persistent disconnection and frequent conflicts between parents and children—often shaped by generational gaps, intent-impact mismatch, and lack of direction—further intensify distress. These complex manifestations call for preventive approaches that prioritize connection, emotional safety, and early relational support to reduce self-harm risk.

This paper presents three dialogic, school-based preventive practice models designed to augment established counselling provisions and interventions in suicide prevention and self-harm reduction: Solace Circle Sessions, Empathy Manager Programs, and Parent–Student Listening Circles. Grounded in a preventive and ecological approach, Solace Circle Sessions are guided peer-support groups where students share experiences, express emotions safely, normalize distress, and build emotional awareness and peer empathy. The Empathy Manager Program aims to build supportive emotional climates, promote inclusion, recognize early signs of distress, cultivate bullying-free environments, and reduce peer isolation, particularly among students who are withdrawn or socially alienated, through emotionally and socially attuned students. Extending preventive efforts into the family context, Parent–Student Listening Circles create guided spaces for dialogue—rooted in trust, reflection, and active listening—to reduce conflict and enhance mutual understanding, thereby strengthening emotionally responsive home environments.

Drawing on school-level implementation data and participant feedback, this paper highlights that suicide prevention in educational institutions is most effective when multiple relationship-based preventive strategies proactively build support systems, rather than relying on reactive crisis-based responses.