By Paul Daquilante • Staff Writer

Apparent suicide claims life of Amity middle-schooler

UPDATED, Wednesday, Oct. 28, noon:

A glowstick celebration of life for Olivia Long, the 13-year-old Amity Middle School eighth-grader who died last week of an apparent suicide, according to the Yamhill County Sheriff's Office, will be held this evening from 6:30 to 8:30 o'clock at the school.

Interim Principal Reg McShane released the following statement:

"As most of you know, we have lost one of our own students in our community. Olivia Long was a wonderful, outgoing, high-spirited girl.

"One of Olivia's favorite things in the world were butterflies, and we want to support these broken hearts in our community by keeping our wings open."

There will be a maximum of 50 people allowed in the gym at one time. It will be a walk through ceremony. Glowsticks will be placed outside as a tribute to Olivia's bright personality.

Attendees should enter through the front entrance of the school.

The family has requested that those who attend wear colorful attire to remind them of Olivia.

Flowers are welcome and donations may be made to Oregon Youth Line,  https://oregonyouthline.org/donate/ , or Suicide Prevention Lifeline,   https://suicidepreventionlifeline.org/donate/.

For anyone wanting to share stories or provide further support, Olivia's mother, Lauren Svenson, has created a Facebook page that can be viewed at https://www.facebook.com/My-Baby-Girl-Olivia-107480674489567/ .

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ORIGINAL STORY:

A 13-year-old eighth-grader at Amity Middle School died last week of an apparent suicide, according to the Yamhill County Sheriff’s Office.

Lauren Svenson posted on the Amity News and Community Facebook page of her daughter Olivia Long’s death. She wrote in part:

“My daughter unexpectedly took her own life on Thursday night. Please, hold your kids closer, longer. Press them to talk to you about their feelings during this COVID chaos. I never want anyone to experience what I’m going through. No one should ever have to see or feel what has happened over the past 36 hours.”

The post had generated 145 comments as of Monday morning.

Yamhill County Sheriff’s Capt. Chris Ray said deputies responded about 9 a.m. Friday, Oct. 23, to a residence in the 13000 block of Jerusalem Hill Road, south of Hopewell, to investigate the death. No other details were released.

Amity School Superintendent Jeff Clark said the district is offering in-person and online counseling services to students in the wake of Oliva’s death.

“All three district counselors are heavily involved in this process as well as helping to support teachers at the middle school,” Clark said.

The counselors are Jared Larson at the middle school, Kristy Dirksen at the elementary school and Debra Middleton at the high school.

Clark said Middle School interim Principal Reg McShane has been doing an “excellent job” communicating with Willamette Education Service District specialists, staff members and Oliva’s family. 

“He and I went up to visit mom on Friday afternoon to express our condolences and offer any assistance that she might need,” Clark said. “Given that Lauren was a graduate of Amity and had students in both the middle school and elementary school, many of our teachers  across the district were impacted by this tragedy.”

Clark said he expects the district will host the celebration of life at the time it is scheduled.

Yamhill County Public Health lists several resources to prevent suicide on its website, including: Youth suicide hotline, 1-877-968-8491 (or, text “teen2teen” to 839863); LGBTQ suicide hotline, 1-866-488-7386; senior loneliness line, 1-503-200-1633; military suicide hotline, 1-888-457-4838 (or, text “MIL1” to 839863); Yamhill County Mental Health Crisis Line, 1-844-842-8200.

Additionally, Public Health offers suicide prevention training, and is among a group of community partners currently implementing a Mental Health Safe Spaces initiative. For more information, go to https://hhs.co.yamhill.or.us/publichealth/page/suicide-prevention-2. 

Comments

Hibb

"Olivia Long was a wonderful, outgoing, high-spirited girl."

She will be missed by her family, classmates and friends, and those privileged to work with her in attaining her educational needs and goals. My heart goes out to the family and only with time and some help will young Olivia Long's community of friends and family be able to process this tragedy.

I have someone very close to me that has attempted suicide twice and the last thing they would ever want to do was call a crisis line for help. Knowing that, it has become incumbent on "us" to keep a watchful eye and a hearing heart close to those that are by themselves endangered. While there is help available, getting those that need it to it is one of the most challenging obstacles we will face.

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