The time to conduct screening must be
determined. Some have recommended transitional
years such as sixth and seventh and ninth and
10th grades as critical times when clinical symptoms
often linked to increased suicide risk sometimesdevelop.29,37 However, screening efforts at these ages
should ideally be part of broader efforts within communities
to promote wellness, mental health, and
learning success for youth from preschool through
young adulthood. Locally collected data such as
emergency room data can assist in identifying age
groups at particular risk. In the absence of locally
available data, state and national data such as the
Youth Risk Behavior Survey (http://www.cdc.gov/
HealthyYouth/yrbs) can be helpful. However, if the
planning group determines that there are inadequate
resources to provide adequate follow up to the
screen, the screening process should be delayed until
adequate resources are marshaled and confidence of
adequate follow up is increased