Following the 2014-15 suicide cluster — a group of deaths that occur within a certain time period — at Gunn, students wanted visible, communal ways to honor classmates, including holding memorials on campus, planting trees in remembrance and raising the flag at half- mast. Yet most of these proposals were not compliant with postvention guidelines, according to former Gunn Wellness Coordinator Joanne Michels.
This scenario is emblematic of the framework that guides response to tragedy in a district experiencing student death by suicide. Policies governing memorials, media coverage and official communication are designed to protect vulnerable students and mitigate suicide
contagion — in which exposure to suicide increases the risk of copycat behavior. PAUSD’s decisions to disclose or withhold information surrounding the death are also made in accordance with the wishes of the student’s family.
Both students and administrators describe similar hopes: to help the community grieve, process and heal. But while the district takes many factors into account, including clinical guidance and family privacy, some students say they feel dissatisfied with the level of candor in acknowledgment of the deaths and following actions. This disconnect suggests an ongoing need for not only greater transparency, but also clearer education about why PAUSD suicide and mental health responses are structured as they are. Without a clearer understanding of the rationale, efforts “asking for more” can inadvertently conflict with the very safeguards intended to reduce harm.
Despite the potential suicide contagion, senior Alex Efremova believes that open communication on student deaths can positively influence the community by encouraging them to seek further help.
“When you say it out loud, you can definitely see the problems with that, because there is the concern that if you talk about suicide, people might be more inclined towards it,” he said. “But there’s a way larger impact of it — that people find out about it and (think), ‘Oh, I’ve experienced those thoughts, maybe I should talk to someone.’”
After the recent death of Paly junior Summer Devi Mehta, friends put up pictures of her at the Churchill Ave. Caltrain crossing. By the next day, suicide prevention experts at Stanford University issued an advisory message recommending administrators to remove the display from the crossing. However, recognizing the importance of allowing communities to grieve, the experts suggested moving the photos elsewhere, such as the Paly campus.
“Memorialization can be really activating for people who are struggling with their own mental health,” Michels said. “(Back when I was the Wellness Coordinator), we wanted to provide a safe environment that acknowledged the grief for the community that was grieving and continue a learning environment for those who may not have been affected.”
In fact, highly visible reminders of death can carry unintended consequences by unintentionally
romanticizing suicide.
“People (would) get really upset and confused about why we couldn’t take actions in certain ways,” Michels said.
Instead, the district sought alternative methods that would offer comfort without amplifying the visibility of deaths. The policies also included ensuring sensitivity in communication with families and collaboration within the district for students with mental health needs, according to Michels.
“As a school, we talked about opening up a certain part of the library for mental health resources and providing an extension of Sources of Strength (to talk) about stories of resilience and positive coping strategies (that) amplify those stories and help with the healing process,” she said.
Sources of Strength was an evidence- and discussion-based mental health program at Gunn that dissolved during the pandemic.
The same prevention principles that guide memorial policies also inform how student suicide is portrayed and reported. Evidence-based guidelines caution against detailed or sensationalized coverage. A 2015 CDC report investigating Santa Clara County suicide rates found that media coverage of the 2014-15 cluster “departed from the accepted safe suicide reporting guidelines.”
In response to findings like this, Stanford’s Media and Mental Health Initiative created Tools for Evaluating Media Portrayals of Suicide in partnership with the Santa Clara County Suicide Prevention team, which provided research on best practices for reporting on campus suicide. The initiative has since worked with local Palo Alto newspapers to strengthen responsible coverage of student deaths, broadening their support statewide and nationally.
At the school level, Michels worked with The Oracle adviser Kristy Blackburn and former editor-in-chief Shawna Chen from 2015-19 on a series called “Changing the Narrative,” which promoted help-seeking through stories of the Gunn community. When some anecdotes addressed especially difficult experiences, student editors worked alongside campus staff to assess whether the writer felt prepared for publication and whether adequate support systems were in place before, during and after release. These precautions were not intended to limit student expression, but to ensure protection.
“What we were really clear on is that storytelling could be therapeutic, but it’s not therapy,” Michels said. “(Suicide) could be a very sensitive topic, and there’s a lot of visibility when you put yourself out there. We wanted to ensure that the right supports were in place.”
Before formal support expanded, students initiated early, action-oriented responses to tragedy. The website Henry M. Gunn Gives Me Hope shared affirming messages from students, teachers and community members. The Tumblr blog “A Titan Is” featured students voices on identity and belonging. Students also formed a mental health club, Reach Out Care Know, which organized peer volunteers to sit in the library for conversation and informal support throughout the day.
The Wellness Center’s opening in 2016 signaled a move toward developing permanent resources and programs. According to former Wellness Commissioner Meghna Singh, its placement was deliberate to normalize help-seeking. The center was situated along the same path students would take for physical health services or activities in the Student Activities Center, so students were not singled out by their route to the Wellness Center.
“They were physically changing the campus so that people felt more comfortable going and asking for help,” she said.
The center’s launch was followed by expanding staffing, including the creation of a Wellness Outreach Worker role in 2016 to provide both student-focused and organizational support for wellness services. Last year, the Wellness Coordinator absorbed these responsibilites.
Transitioning to in-house therapists was another step toward making help more accessible. Previously, the school contracted therapists from external organizations whose services were not catered specifically to Gunn, and students often faced long waitlists due to understaffing, according to Director of Mental Health and Wellness Dawn Yoshinaga.
According to California Healthy Kids Survey data collected from Gunn over a fifteen-year time period, the percentage of students who report knowing where to go for help when they have a problem has remained about the same. The percentage of students reporting chronic sadness or hopelessness also remained steady, hovering near 30% for juniors and 20%–30% for freshmen. These figures indicate that while the number of mental health programs have increased, student understanding of how and when to access support may not have shifted substantially. In fact, CHKS data shows that the number of Gunn students who have seriously considered suicide has fluctuated but remained consistent, staying in the 11%–18% range. Efremova said that even when resources exist, uncertainty about how they function can discourage students from seeking help.
“A lot of people who are struggling with mental health are also struggling with (questions like) ‘When I call this helpline, what will happen? Do I have to pay for this? Do I have to get my parents
involved?’” he said.
Mental Health and Wellness Coordinator Michelle Ramos said the main barriers she hears limiting student access to the Wellness Center are stigma, unwillingness to miss class and confidentiality concerns. Ramos said she works with teachers to try to destigmatize the Wellness Center.
“We try to make sure they are promoting mental health and wellness, and encouraging and normalizing the Wellness Center,” she said. “We also make sure they are reassuring students and respecting (students’) privacy. You shouldn’t be asking students ‘Why do you need to go’ or ‘Why were you there so long?’ It’s a barrier if students need to explain themselves. So I (remind) teachers during staff meetings, over email and sometimes one-on-one.”
As for confidentiality concerns, she said there is a misunderstanding among students about how privacy works in therapy, especially involving parents.
“You have at least three sessions where you can come in where parents are not notified,” she said. “If you decide to go past those sessions, hopefully you’ve gotten a taste of therapy and know that parents aren’t really that involved, and you feel comfortable getting their consent.”
Because the age of consent for therapy is twelve, Ramos said the Wellness Center allows students to consent for themselves in certain cases, but she has found it rare for students to be uncomfortable asking for parental consent after three sessions.
Ramos also said that some students are hesitant to go to therapy because of mandated reporting. All adults at Gunn are mandated reporters, but some students may overestimate its jurisdiction. According to Ramos, the only two things staff must report are abuse and imminent danger to oneself or someone else.
“If we’re worried for your safety within the next 24 hours, that is an imminent safety concern,” she said. Unless there is imminent danger,
suicidal thoughts, while concerning, do not fall under mandated reporting.
Senior Dolly Wu, founder of the mental health advocacy nonprofit Solis, said conversations about mental health have become more common, but that flippancy downplayed difficulties and created aversion to confronting serious issues.
“I personally view the joking as ‘Hey, we all experience these things, but none of us are willing to, or could, cross this bridge to actually talk
about it seriously,’” she said.
Suicide prevention and mental health awareness activist Victor Ojakia said that even joking references to suicide warrant attention and
careful judgement.
“You need to see if you can move a person towards getting some assistance,” he said.
English teacher and ROCK advisor Paul Dunlap said academic culture can also lead to students taking stress and a heavy workload as signs of success.
“A losing battle is (when) students almost compete about who’s busiest, who’s most stressed, who sleeps less, who has more tests,” he said.
When stress and jokes are normalized, students may be less likely to interpret warning signs as cause for concern in moments of crisis for themselves and each other. This brings the importance of clear education about the ways to seek support to the forefront.
In the evolving landscape of suicide prevention, the Palo Alto community continues to foster resilience and well-being. Last September, the City of Palo Alto approved a contract between the district and Project Safety Net, a community network of volunteers that provides youth mental health services through education, training and collaborations between schools and community organizations.
Last year, Vice Mayor Greer Stone also spearheaded a contract between the city and the mental health and suicide prevention nonprofit Jed Foundation. The partnership is meant to unite the district and the city’s suicide prevention efforts, with the foundation serving as a consultant to provide analysis, identify gaps and improve efficacy. Gunn has also taken steps in effort to support suicide prevention on campus. From Sept. 8 to 9, 2025, SEC hosted an event where students wrote anonymous messages of encouraging in recognition of Suicide Prevention Week. Students also distributed buttons reading “We Belong.”
According to Ramos, there is a state mandate coming in the near future that will require suicide prevention programming in schools.
“It’s something (the staff) is already talking about because SELF is not necessarily a mental health class,” she said. “We’re trying to figure out where to embed (suicide prevention) training, and all students will have access to that.”
Recently, the Palo Alto City Council voted on Feb. 23 to reinstate guards at each of the four local Caltrain crossings through Track Watch in response to the most recent death by suicide.
Efremova said the reinstatement reflects progress.
“This is making me very hopeful as to the next steps we can take to implement some infrastructure changes and culture shifts,” he said.
