The last goodbye.

• Author: Williams, John Michael
• Position: 'Bridgend' dociumentary on teenage suicide - Words & Images

WHAT SHOULD YOU be talking about with your child before college?--not dorm decor. Thousands of parents are sending their children off to college for the first time. While dorm decor and safety will be primary topics for many families, one subject that should be discussed but almost always is avoided is suicide. More than half of all college students have felt depressed and one in 10 consider suicide. Most parents avoid the topic with teenagers because they worry that it is too depressing and awful to discuss; others have the mistaken belief that talking about it will give kids the idea to commit suicide.

I spent five years making "Bridgend"--a documentary about 99 teenagers who committed suicide in a small town two hours outside of London--and, during that time, I spoke with hundreds of grieving relatives of teenagers who killed themselves, mostly by hanging. What I learned and what I told my daughter when she left for college was: always know that there is nothing that cannot be figured out; no feeling or situation warrants harming yourself. If you are depressed, feeling isolated or desperate, discuss it with someone. There is no shame in asking for help. Colleges have clinics, health care and mental health care options, counselors, advisors, people to go to in order to get help and guidance. If you cannot discuss it with your family, seek out somebody else.

According to the Jason Foundation, suicide is the second-leading cause of death for individuals aged 10-24 and the third-leading cause for those in the 12-18 range. More teenagers and young adults die from suicide than from cancer, heart disease, AIDS, birth defects, stroke, pneumonia, influenza, and chronic lung disease combined. Each day in the U.S., there are an average of more than 5,400 suicide attempts by young people in grades seven through 12.

The important thing about these statistics is that four out of five teens will give clear warning signs that something is very wrong. We can stop many of these suicides simply by opening up the conversation. As parents, we are not afraid to speak to our children about cancer, substance abuse, drunk driving, or other issues, but we often are very reluctant to talk about suicide. We live in a country where, if you break your leg or get cancer, you will get treatment but, if you are sad and devastated and unable to cope with life, you are shamed into feeling something is wrong with you. We all struggle and feel hopeless at times--and it is...