'My students know where to find me': Woodstock teacher supports students affected by suicides

School's out for summer, and as Alice Cooper famously sang, "No more pencils, no more books, no more teacher's dirty looks."

But, life on summer vacation isn't necessarily a beach for many students, according to Pamela Pilon, a Grade 7 and 8 teacher at Roch Carrier Public School in Woodstock, Ont. — a community that's been struggling with the suicides of five students in four months earlier this year.

"When you go to school, every 20 minutes is regulated, everything is scheduled, that's how school works," she told CBC's Metro Morning.

• ​Woodstock suicides part of a national problem, CAMH says

"When you take away that routine and those expectations, some students will be out of sorts because there goes that place where they know what's going to be expected of them," Pilon added. "That's where their peers are, that's where their support systems are," she said.

"As adults, what we have to be very mindful of is to make sure that support is in place for our kids throughout the summer."

A support network is crucial for the students who went to school with the teens who committed suicide, Pilon said.

Pilon told CBC News last month that some 40 students at the French immersion school told her they were struggling with mental health issues or were contemplating suicide. 

• What needs to happen next to deal with Woodstock, Ont., suicide crisis?

"We all have a responsibility to our youth," she said. "Just because I have two natural children doesn't mean I don't have a responsibility to the youth in our community. "

And here's what endears Pilon to her students. She assures them she's there for them if they need to talk to her.

"Because of my close proximity, both in heart and to my school, my students know where to find me," she said. "They know that if they see me, they're invited to say, 'Hey, madame! Guess what I've been doing?'"

• Woodstock, ON in 'crisis' after five youth suicides in four months

And for the last eight years, she's made a unique deal with her kids, promising them that "if they make it to high school grad, so will I."

"The first time I went, it was remarkable to see their faces and how stunned they were to see me. They said, 'You made a promise,' and I said, 'I kept it,'" she said. "On a selfish note, I get to hear about their future, where they're off to and where they've been accepted. Hearing them say I did this for them is so, so rewarding."

Pilon says knowing that they have "a community behind them that has some great supports in place is making a world of difference for many youth."