Program emphasizes the positive

Olivia McRae wasn’t feeling well the day her mother caught her doing something surprising.

Olivia had been ill, so she had been forced to stay home while her family went out. When they returned, they found an indoor picnic set up, complete with personalized place cards for each family member.

When Olivia’s first-grade teacher, Pati Bowman, asked parents to write something positive about their children, Olivia’s mother wrote about the surprise picnic.

Bowman’s assignment instructed parents to watch for positive things their children did, such as holding the door open for someone or helping at home without being asked. Noticing those good things was Bowman’s take on the Blue Ribbon campaign, a suicide prevention program introduced this year at Elrod School.

The nationwide campaign, put on by Difference Makers International, encourages people to find good things in each other. Usually this happens by telling someone something positive about them and handing them a blue ribbon with the label “Who I Am Makes A Difference.”

The person who receives the blue ribbon then gets two more ribbons to pass on to other people.

In Flathead County, the campaign originated with the Flathead Suicide Prevention Coalition.

“I just love this idea,” program coordinator Joan Schmidt said. “It’s fun, it’s uplifting and it has a positive impact.”

The campaign helps create protective factors that might influence children who could one day find themselves in a dark pit of depression.

The numbers for children younger than 18 are hard to find; Schmidt said she didn’t have an accurate count for the number of young people who commit suicide in Montana. But the rate for adults in Montana is more than twice as high as the national average, she said.

In Montana, suicide “is considered an epidemic,” Schmidt said.

The epidemic holds true in Flathead County. In 2007, eight people over the age of 18 took their own lives. Another eight committed suicide in 2008.

In 2009, that number leapt to 20 — growth Schmidt attributes in large part to the dismal economy. In the first two months of 2010, five Flathead residents had committed suicide.

While those figures are for adults, Schmidt said children struggle with difficult situations, too. It’s never too early to start building self-esteem that can help youths deal with those troubles.

The suicide prevention coalition has contributed to high school health curricula by showing a film on depression, and coalition members have trained people on the QPR suicide prevention mechanism: question, persuade and refer.

“But we realized nothing was going on with the elementary schools, and we would really like to do something,” Schmidt said.

The Blue Ribbon campaign seemed a perfect program.

When children have self-confidence and feel important and as if they belong, they function better, Schmidt said. Their school attendance and performance improve, their relationships with others get better and they have much less need for self-harm and suicide-related behaviors.

The coalition received a grant last year that allowed it to purchase all the supplies needed for the Blue Ribbon campaign. The grant was written specifically for fifth- and sixth-graders, Schmidt said, but at Elrod School, the entire staff was trained in the campaign.

The concept seemed a little advanced for young students, Bowman said — so she tweaked it a little for her class.

“First-graders need an example for them,” she explained.

That’s when Bowman enlisted help from parents.

Maycie’s mom caught her unloading the dishwasher all by herself. Adam offered his mom his seat so she could watch a movie.

Brayden’s mom was proud of her son for helping with the hot water tank. “Just wanted you to know how blessed we are to have Brayden as he makes a difference in our lives every day,” she wrote.

In addition to the impromptu picnic, Olivia’s mom cited other examples of her daughter’s kind heart.

“I’ve waited for her after school while she picks up stuff in the hallway and puts it into the owner’s locker ‘so their day doesn’t start out bad tomorrow,’” she wrote.

Later, it was the first-graders’ turn to praise others.

“Collin is my brother. He taught me my ABCs. That’s why I love him,” Rylee wrote.

“Lily sets a good example for me at school. She is a good listener, sits criss-cross applesauce and helps clean up the classroom. It helps me remember to do those things,” Molly wrote.

Rebekkah noticed her mother’s sacrificial love.

“When people don’t clean up their messes, my mom cleans up their mess and she doesn’t like it that much. But she still does it and she still loves us,” she wrote.

Looking for the good in others — and hearing others praise the good things in them — was an important lesson for the class, Bowman said.

“Eighty-five percent of our world is negative. It’s nice to get those positives in there,” she said.

For more on the Blue Ribbon campaign, visit www.blueribbons.org.

Reporter Kristi Albertson may be reached at 758-4438 or at kalbertson@dailyinterlake.com.