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Cyber bullying. Hate. Violence. Teen suicide. Mental health experts compare it all to a CONTAGION

The Times Reporter - 3/12/2018

NEW PHILADELPHIA When a series of six suicides rocked her hometown, Lindsey Tidrick knew she needed to do something to educate the public about teen mental health and risky behaviors.

Tidrick, who grew up in Stark County's Perry Township, between Canton and Massillon, works as a counselor for the Strasburg-Franklin Local Schools "I wanted to be proactive, not reactive," she said.

Her answer was to work with fellow school-based counselors who comprise the Tuscarawas Area Counseling Association to create a night of information sharing in partnership with Tuscarawas area school districts, Buckeye Career Center and the East Central Ohio Educational Service Center.

The program drew about 900 people to the Performing Arts

Center of Kent State University at Tuscarawas.

Speakers included the Perry schools' head of school and mental health counseling, Margaret Delillo-Storey.

When a member of the audience asked why teen suicide seemed to be increasing, Delillo-Storey described a phenomenon familiar from infectious diseases - contagion.

"It only takes one, one incident to occur to give 'permission' for the rest to occur," she said.

"It's a snowball effect; one to the next to the next," said Adam Fisher, a detective with the Tuscarawas County Sheriff's Office.

Perry's suicides started with a single death, then became a cluster as more occurred, and grew into a contagion after spreading to seven school districts before becoming epidemic in the state, Delillo-Storey said. Three teen suicides occurred in Stark County in the week before her Feb. 26 speech at the PAC.

The oldest was 19. The youngest was a 13-year-old who shot himself at Jackson Middle School after, police said, abandoning plans to commit mass murder.

Fisher warned the audience about the many hazards that can be brought to children through computers, e-readers, gaming systems and smart-phones, including safety and security issues, sexting, pornography, sexual solicitation, excessive violence, hate speech, cyber-bullying, and enticements to risky and illegal behavior.

He recounted the story of one young woman who thought she was communicating online with an older man who would pay her way as her "daddy." He asked for online banking information so he could give her money.

"Daddy took all her money," he said.

Fisher advised that anyone whose child is a victim of online bullying take action to counteract it, to save evidence, block cyber-bullies, set up new accounts, change phone numbers, talk to the school, and report it to law enforcement and the website on which it occurred.

"Most of the time, it's somebody that our kids know," Fisher said. "It may start at school. It may not. And then it goes on to cyber-bullying."

Delillo-Storey said people often ask her at what age children should get a phone. First, she encourages them to get what she called the "phone of shame," a prepaid phone with limited minutes.

If you wouldn't give the car keys to your 8-year-old, why would you give him a smartphone, she asked.

Fisher referred parents and guardians to the website www.netsmartz.org, which provides age-appropriate resources to help teach children how to be safer on-and offline.

Tuscarawas County's juvenile prosecutor offered parents a way to know what children are buying online: Attach your credit card to their phone.

Amanda Miller, an assistant Tuscarawas County prosecutor, also advised parents to look on kids' phones for vaults that can hold hidden phone apps.

Teens who engage in improper online conduct may have multiple versions of the same service, such as two Instagram accounts or two Facebook accounts, Fisher said. The nefarious activity may be in the account not disclosed to parents.

Miller advised parents and guardians who are struggling with their children's problems to seek help.

"None of this is new for us up here," she said, while seated onstage with other panelists at the PAC. "I wish that I could say we haven't had teen suicide in our county, but we have. I wish I could say that we haven't had drug addiction, but we have. We've had families in crisis since there were families in crisis, since there were families in Tuscarawas County."

Reach Nancy at 330-364-8402 or nancy.molnar@timesreporter.com. On Twitter: @nmolnarTR