Becoming BIONIC

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​"We need each other."

With the increase in suicides and school shootings across the country, a more caring climate in schools - kindergarten through college - is needed to reach students falling through the cracks to let them know they are “seen,” they “matter,” and people care. After four suicides of students at Green Mountain High School in Lakewood, Colorado, GMHS counselor, Sandy Austin, talked with the friends and family members of the students who took their lives while trying to find out what the young men had been dealing with that contributed to their suicides. As a result, Sandy created the B.I.O.N.I.C. Team (Believe It Or Not I Care) to reach out to students at the school who were new, sick, hospitalized, bullied, or lost loved ones in the hopes of preventing developing issues with those circumstances from spiraling down into suicide ideation like it had for those young men. Sandy led B.I.O.N.I.C. Teams in two schools over 14 years which saw 1,200 students reach out to over 140,000 people.

Sandy was also one of the most involved school counselors with the Columbine tragedy and helped with three other school shootings. She recently retired after 21 years as a school counselor to start B.I.O.N.I.C. as a non-profit. ​

B.I.O.N.I.C.

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