NY A10043

Office of Mental Health, in consultation with the Education Department, shall identify or develop educational materials for educators on suicide prevention measures and signs of depression among school-aged youth for optional use by school districts and boards of cooperative educational services.

Educational materials shall include information on depression symptoms, how depression manifests across different cultures, warning signs of suicide, actions to take when youth are identified as suicide risk, and a list of educational websites regarding suicide and youth.

Materials shall be made available on the Education Department's website, with the Office of Mental Health website providing a hyperlink to the Education Department page displaying such materials.

School districts may include suicide prevention instruction in health education for secondary school pupils, taught by teachers certified in health education, with related courses taught in a manner supportive of health education on suicide prevention.

School authorities are authorized to provide facilities, time, place, learning aids, and curriculum resource materials for suicide prevention instruction in health education.

The act takes effect July 1 following enactment into law.