In this important episode of the Counselor Accents Podcast, we sit down with Angela Avery, a seasoned middle school counselor from Maine, to discuss one of the most challenging and critical topics facing schools today: suicide prevention.

Angela shares practical, proactive strategies school counselors can use to address suicide in developmentally appropriate, ethical, and trauma-informed ways. This conversation focuses on prevention over reaction, highlighting everyday practices that quietly save lives long before a crisis occurs.

Listeners will gain insight into:

• How to talk about suicide safely and responsibly with students

• Proactive suicide prevention strategies

• School counseling protocols and response planning

• Protective factors counselors may already be strengthening without realizing it

• Ways to build a school culture of connection, trust, and emotional safety

Angela also reassures counselors who worry they’re “doing it wrong” that many effective prevention efforts are already happening through relationship-building, SEL lessons, and consistent check-ins. This episode emphasizes that suicide prevention is not one program or lesson — it’s a system of care woven into daily school counseling practice.

Whether you are a school counselor, administrator, or mental health professional, this episode offers grounded guidance, encouragement, and realistic tools for navigating an incredibly sensitive topic with confidence and compassion.