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While suicide awareness was highlighted nationally throughout the month of September to “raise awareness, reduce stigma, and share life-saving resources," October is bullying prevention month across the U.S. and is “focused on raising awareness, promoting kindness, and preventing bullying among children and young adults.”  

Addressing the link between suicide and bullying is a complex process but Kansas school districts have a number of resources and services to help students and families with these issues.

According to the Kansas State Department of Education’s bullying prevention toolkit most recently updated in late 2025, when “effective bullying prevention is implemented as part of a systemic, prevention-focused, responsive approach to bullying behaviors, schools enhance the conditions necessary for learning. Bullying prevention, intervention, and postvention also build a safer school climate and culture. When both factors are in place, districts build settings for rigorous student achievement and thriving Kansas communities.”

The bullying prevention toolkit provides districts and schools with a 12-step plan for preventing bullying behaviors which are classified as the following:

• Physical bullying
• Cyberbullying
• Verbal bullying
• Relational bullying
• Property damage

The key to bullying prevention, as outlined in the toolkit, is using a comprehensive process that includes establishing a Student Mental Health Team (SMHT) to address bullying behaviors and the targets of the behavior. These teams are largely comprised of school psychologists, school social workers, school counselors and school nurses who are trained to assist students who displaying bullying behaviors and those who are their targets. The families of both the bully and the target are also part of the process.

Belinda Pitts is a mental health liaison for Fort Scott USD 234. She said the district’s mental health team’s central focus is “helping students feel connected, supported, and comfortable asking for help.” 

“For bullying prevention, our work includes teaching respectful behavior, emotional regulation, and positive ways to respond to difficult peer interactions,” she said. “For suicide prevention, our liaison role focuses on recognizing concerns early and helping connect students and families with school counselors and mental health providers.”

Pitts added that the district’s partnership with Southeast Kansas Mental Health Center plays a large role in coordinating support services. The connection between these efforts, she added, is “a consistent network of caring adults” and making and maintaining relationships with families. She credits much of the work done in USD 234 to her partnership with Cynthia Rowe who is also a mental health liaison and the efforts they make to “bridge communication between home, school, and mental health services” in the district.

“We want families to feel heard and students to know they have adults they can turn to and someone who will help them navigate the next steps,” Pitts said. “Through our liaison work, we help bring people together around a student's needs and follow through on connecting families with support. Our summer program, individual check-ins, and relationship-building activities also create opportunities to stay connected with students beyond classroom instruction.”

In addition, Pitts said Dr. Zach Johnson, Fort Scott USD 234’s superintendent, holds a monthly meeting, focused on high-needs students, that brings together building administrators, counselors, the district's SparkWheel representative, mental health partners, and mental health liaisons.

“We discuss student and family needs, identify supports, and coordinate our efforts,” she said. “Having everyone at the table helps us share perspectives and work together toward a plan.” 

Being an upstander

An important aspect of addressing bullying in schools is to help students think like an “upstander” instead of a bystander when they see bullying behavior. This includes the use of the Kansans Can Competencies, evidence-based practices that help create proactive and preventative environments in schools to reduce bullying incidents.

“Building a culture of protective factors against bullying means developing the expectation of students, staff, and parent(s)/guardian/caregivers to be upstanders and not bystanders,” as stated in the KSDE bullying prevention toolkit. “Upstanders make a choice to meaningfully engage when they see harmful or concerning behaviors or situations in an attempt to turn the situation in a positive direction.”

Jaran Dixon is a community health worker in Parsons USD 503. His position is funded through a grant from Telehealth ROCKS of the University of Kansas Medical Center. He said while his main focus has been on addressing chronic absenteeism, the district’s continued efforts to address bullying has helped improve conditions where students want to come to school. He said more recently he’s personally observed the positive impact on USD 503 students of the state’s bell-to-bell cell phone ban.

“They’re walking and talking with each other more in the hallways,” he said. “There’s a sense of togetherness. Small victories lead to big victories."

Resources available for addressing bullying and student mental health:

• KSDE School Mental Health webpage: https://www.ksde.gov/student-success/health-and-safety/school-mental-health

   

• Kansas Communities that Care (KCTC): https://kctcdata.org

   

• National Center for School Mental Health (NCSMH): https://www.schoolmentalhealth.org/resources/