In New Mexico, schools struggle to address a teen suicide crisis
Just before dawn, as the Albuquerque sky filled the house with thin, pale blue light, 16-year-old Aurra Gardner took the small handgun out from behind the bed in her mother’s bedroom.
Kerianne Gardner, Aurra’s mother, sat in the living room, typing an email, listening idly as her other daughters tied their shoes and packed their lunches. She heard what sounded like a door slam and assumed it was Aurra’s cello case falling over.
She walked down the hall and tried the door of the bedroom. It was locked. No one in the Gardner house ever locked a door. When there was no response, Kerianne started to panic. She ran and found a pin to unlock the handle, but she couldn’t unlock the door. She asked Brian, her partner, to do it.
The lock clicked. He went in the room and emerged seconds later, pale and shaking.
“Do I need to call 911?” Kerianne asked from the hallway.
Read more: https://www.hcn.org/articles/public-health-in-new-mexico-schools-struggle-to-address-a-teen-suicide-crisis
(High Country News)
