New bill aims to prevent teen suicide

By Jordan Mazza

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WLNE) — Richard Bruno says losing his 15–year–old son Nathan to suicide last year has changed his life forever.

“I refer to it as an emotional heart attack,” he said.

Nathan Bruno’s friends at Portsmouth High School were also in a state of shock.

“Disbelief, tragedy, sadness – you don’t even know what to think,” said Bruno’s friend Collin Cord of Portsmouth. “And as messed up as it is, we tried to at least get something positive out of the situation.”

The friends started the Every Student Initiative aiming to prevent teen suicides.

They’ve also teamed up with Nathan’s dad for a non–profit called “Be Great for Nate.”

“They turned to me and said, ‘How can we make something good come out of this?'” said Steven Peterson of Be Great for Nate, Inc. “And it was very courageous of them and inspirational of them to come forward and say, ‘We’re sad, but we want something positive to come out of this.'”

Wednesday they were at the state house testifying in support of the Nathan Bruno and Jason Flatt Act.

It would require all public school districts to adopt suicide prevention policies and train school employees on suicide awareness and prevention.

“We’re also looking for teachers, coaches, administrators, the lunch staff, the custodians – everybody that is in contact with students, we want to make sure is trained, because you never know who the student’s going to turn to,” Peterson said.

Twenty states have passed similar bills.

“This could happen to any of us,” Bruno said. “It wakes all of us up to how we treat each other.”

Just last year, nine Rhode Island teenagers died by suicide.

© WLNE/ABC 6 2019