Transcript
Police spokesperson Ana Naisoro says members of the force have attended end of school year awards to encourage children to be safe and parents to take care of their young ones. Police have reported the country has averaged more than 225 suicide cases or attempts a year for the past six years. Ms Naisoro says, when it comes to youth suicide, parents need to communicate more with their children.
"There's just a need for parents and guardians to spend quality time with their children. Sit down with them, talk to them. That is one of the messages from the Commissioner down to the other officers who have been setting up during school award ceremonies, that our children are growing up in an environment, in a society that is much more different from their time, so they need to be more understanding."
The director of the suicide prevention service, Lifeline is Archana Mani. She says the latest cases highlight a concerning increase in child suicides, particularly of those under the age of 13.
"As we have moved on in 2017, we have seen about, I think, ranging between 5 and 10 cases of child suicide so definitely there has been a dramatic increase in this regard."
Psychologist Selina Kuruleca finds the suicide of a seven year old hard to understand.
"This is really sad, if it is really true, if it is ruled a suicide. Because psychologically and looking at it from a psychology model, it is quite difficult to comprehend how a seven year old would understand, if I do this, I am not coming back to life. It is quite difficult to get my head around that."
Ms Kuruleca says there are a number of strategies to tackle the issue, like a crisis and counselling line through the Ministry of Social Welfare.
"That's one way. The other is just going back to the family and what's going back to the family level. We are supposed to be community that resolves around the family but obviously there are problems there."
Ms Kuruleca is advocating for more family time and less time in front of TV, phone or computer screens. Archana Mani agrees, but says the traditional family structures are changing, which is not helping the situation.
"In the Pacific, the concept is around a village bringing up a child. So what that means is there is a whole lot of opportunities for a child to ask for help or to seek support if you may but now with the emerging family structures, those support structures are very fast eroding and hence there are limited opportunities for kids of this age to ask for help."
Ms Mani says parents need to communicate more with their children and watch for changes in personality. She also says suicide prevention programmes need to drastically change.
"All the awareness programmes need to be revamped and turned into child-sensitive programmes, shifting the conversations around the methods of completing suicide to turning it into more about seeking help, communicating these sorts of messages in child-friendly languages as opposed to jargon which actually creates curiosity, as opposed to empowering young kids."
Ms Mani says while children tend to use the Ministry's Crisis line, her service is hearing more from parents and teachers asking for advice on how to deal with young people having suicidal thoughts.
