More working men are committing suicide. Now that might come as a shock since we mostly hear about the sad cases of young children or teenagers taking their lives but based on the statistics, there is a rise in suicide among men between the ages of 20 to 35. Now we know most of you are in the celebration mood and will be out tomorrow with your flags, your red, white and blue suits watching the 10th Parade in the city, but Mental Health practitioners are also calling on everyone to be as involved and enthused about World Suicide Prevention Day which is also observed tomorrow. So as to not take away from the September Spirit nor to ignore the importance of suicide prevention, a flag raising ceremony was held at the Battlefield Park today instead, to commemorate World Suicide Prevention Day. Counselor Juliet Simmons told us more about the Ministry's strategy to reach out to this vulnerable group.
Juliet Simmons, Counselor - Ministry of Health
"What we're doing here today is raising a flag to create more awareness for suicide. If there has been one suicide, that's way too many. In the year of 2015 we had more or less 25 and I'm sure the numbers may roll up to that in 2016 too. so what we're doing between today and next week Thursday the flag will be up, so when you see that flag remember those who have died by suicide, the families who have lost someone to suicide and the people who are contemplating suicide."
Courtney Weatherburne
"So you mentioned there were 25 cases of suicide last year 2015, is there a particular age range or are we noticing an increase in suicide attempts, suicide among young children, teenagers, adults?"
Juliet Simmons, Counselor - Ministry of Health
"The statistics are more showing that its men in the working age. We want everybody to know that if you're feeling depressed, rejected, isolated, there's help. You don't have to go through this alone, when someone is contemplating suicide it's because the emotional pain is unbearable. This is what they come to think this how to deal with it, this is the only answer, this is the way out. We want them to know that this is not the only way and that we are here to help. the things with men is that there's this macho mentality that they are supposed to handle their own, so they don't talk about their problems or feelings so it is difficult to reach them. We have strategies that we have tried, we have made presentations, we have tried to educate people about depression, about the services we have and of course about suicide. I've been to several workplaces to talk about these things."
Health clinics such as Cleopatra White in the Belize City and others across the country provide services for those who need it.
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