Among 1,987 attempted suicides recorded between December 2022 and December 2023, women in their 20s stood at 28 percent (570 people), followed by people in their 30s at 334 (around 17 percent).

The Japanese Society for Emergency Medicine (JSEM) released the report after compiling data gathered from a tracking system for people admitted to hospital after suicide attempts, the Asahi Shimbun reported on Nov. 26.

The system tracks cases of patients who were taken by ambulance to hospitals or emergency centres following an attempted suicide or self-harm.

Read More

The Ministry of Health has launched consultation on its new five-year suicide prevention plan. It comes just months after shutting down the Suicide Prevention Office, which was the first action set out to be achieved in the 2019-2024 plan.

That current action plan under Every Life Matters - He Tapu te Oranga o ia Tangata, Suicide Prevention Strategy 2019-2029 is coming to an end this year. Read more

Now almost blinded by macular degeneration, 88-year old Cowley is about to launch a new book of rhymes and nonsense, where shadow and light play a big part.

A long faith journey

Cowley's own life has been one of shadow and light. So is everyone else's, she indicates.

"We all get crucified and then resurrected, unless we get stuck in the tomb of self-pity and blaming" Joy Cowley says.

"We've got to understand that every gift we're given has a shadow. Sometimes we see the shadow and don't see the gift ... but we also need to understand that the shadow is the area of growth."

Life is a birthing process, she says.

"I have long since accepted that at this time of life, this is when the body goes into labour to give birth to the soul. So losing sight is the first indication of going into labour. And that's a positive for me."

She didn't always know this though. She had some very dark times, which led to a deliberate drug-overdose.

That overdose changed her life as a young woman, Cowley says.

At the time, her marriage to her first husband had just ended. She had four children and was likely to lose two of them to her husband and his new partner. Not coping, she tried to die.

What happened next was a near-death, out-of-body experience.

"There I was flying, into a light, which cannot be described as we describe the sun or electric lights or anything like that.

"It was also presence. It was love ... It was something I had known always. And I was going into it. I was going home."

Then she sensed herself "falling back".

"I could feel the weight of my body ... and there were voices around me. I was in hospital."

To her, it felt like 10 minutes had passed. In reality, she had been in hospital for three days.

For a time she was blind and paralysed ... and ready for a spiritual search.

"I started looking at all the allusions to light; first of all in the New Testament, in the Bible — Jesus described himself as the light of the world — and then talking to people who had had near-death experiences.

"From a moment which was the worst time of my life, it became suddenly the most beautiful" she says.

Cowley says her faith shares characteristics with the Catholic Church, which she joined after a three-month trip around South America.

"I'd been learning Spanish. And I'd go and just go and sit in these beautiful churches ... and there'd be a puddle on the floor ... and there'd be an empty beer can somewhere else on the floor ... and somehow that made sense to me.

"That's me, deeply spiritual and messy."

New book

Joy Cowley's new book "A Lot of Silly: A Book of Rhymes and Nonsense" is a collection of amusing short stories and poems.

Feeling desperate?

• Need to talk? 1737, free 24/7 phone and text number

• Healthline: 0800 611-116

• Lifeline Aotearoa: 0800 543-354

• Suicide Crisis Helpline: 0508 828-865 (0508 TAUTOKO)

• Samaritans: 0800 726-666

• The Depression Helpline: 0800 111-757

Source

• ODT

The lawsuit, filed in Los Angeles county court, targets Meta Platforms (the parent company of Facebook and Instagram), Snap Inc. (owner of Snapchat), ByteDance (parent company of TikTok), and Alphabet (which owns YouTube and Google).

The complaint alleges that these platforms, with their addictive design choices, exacerbate mental health issues among Native youth.

According to the Pew Research Center, virtually all US teenagers use social media and roughly one in six describes their use as "almost constant".

Lonna Jackson-Street, chairperson of the Spirit Lake Tribe in North Dakota, highlighted the vulnerability of Native youth to the relentless scrolling encouraged by social media.

"Endless scrolling is rewiring our teenagers' brains" stated Gena Kakkak, chairwoman of the Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin.

Kakkak emphasised the demand for accountability. "We are demanding these social media corporations take responsibility for intentionally creating dangerous features that ramp up the compulsive use of social media by the youth on our Reservation."

The lawsuit describes "a sophisticated and intentional effort that has caused a continuing, substantial and long-term burden to the Tribe and its members".

Furthermore, the lawsuit contends that resources from vital programmes have been diverted to address problems social media have caused.

Disproportionately high suicide rates

Similar legal actions are underway across the US with schools, cities and states accusing social media companies of exploiting young users. New York City and Ontario school boards have voiced concerns over the impact on mental health and education.

In response to the lawsuit, Google denied the allegations. "Providing young people with a safer, healthier experience has always been core to our work" Google spokesperson José Castañeda said in a statement.

Snap Inc. reiterated its dedication to fostering user connections while acknowledging the need for ongoing improvement.

Native Americans see disproportionately high suicide rates, compounded by limited access to mental health care and historical trauma.

Social media can offer connections to culture and community. However it exposes users to discrimination and lacks adequate policies to address these issues.

Andrea Wiglesworth, a researcher on stress in Native populations, highlighted the complex interplay between cultural identity and online experiences. She stressed the importance of Indigenous communities navigating these digital spaces responsibly.

While research on the impact of social media on mental health is ongoing, experts emphasise the need for regulation to protect young users. Calls for legislative action to curb exploitative practices and promote online safety have gained bipartisan support.

Where to get help

• In a life-threatening situation, call 111
• 1737, Need to talk? Free call or text 1737 to talk to a trained counsellor
• Anxiety New Zealand 0800 ANXIETY (0800 269 4389)
• Depression.org.nz 0800 111 757 or text 4202
• Lifeline 0800 543 354
• Rural Support Trust 0800 787 254
• Samaritans 0800 726 666
• Suicide Crisis Helpline 0508 828 865 (0508 TAUTOKO)
• Yellow Brick Road 0800 732 825
• thelowdown.co.nz Web chat, email chat or free text 5626
• What's Up 0800 942 8787 (for up to 18-year-olds). Phone counselling available Monday-Friday, noon-11pm and weekends, 3pm-11pm. Online chat is available 3pm-10pm daily
• Youthline 0800 376 633, free text 234, email talk@youthline.co.nz and find online chat and other support options here

Sources

AP News

CathNews New Zealand

Speaking to TVNZ's Sunday, King, known for his endeavours in the mental health area including the I Am Hope charity, said, "It's just another bureaucracy getting money, clipping the ticket, before they pass the money on to someone else.

"This is exactly the sort of bureaucracy we need to get rid of." Read more

I'd travelled to Kawerau, a former milling town on the East Coast, to report on a spate of youth suicides that had rocked the town.

Back then, in 2011, life in this beautiful community was tough. Kawerau had the highest proportion of working-age beneficiaries in the country. Children were growing up in homes marked by poverty and desperation.

In a single year, 12 young people died in suspected suicides - and almost all were between 14 and 18 years old.

As I walked through the cemetery, I was baffled by the pattern of deaths. Many of these teens had already had experienced the heartache caused by suicide - before deciding to end their own lives.

As I interviewed locals, I met a Maori warden who offered an insight that I'll never forget.

"School children are allowed to attend the funerals of their friends," she said. "I have heard them say, ‘Wow, this tangi's neat, eh!' We've glamourised it."

Some teens grew up with little affirmation or validation, the kuia explained. They only saw a schoolmate's life being celebrated when they were lying in a coffin.

She believed that marking suicides in a very public way - and paying tribute to the teens who had died - could put other vulnerable youth at risk.

It could support a mistaken belief that it's okay to end your life.

Her view is backed up by research on "suicide contagion".

Studies show that a single death can have a ripple effect, including through news reporting and social media.

A suicide may trigger suicidal thoughts or behaviour in vulnerable people, even if they didn't know the person who died.

Of course, sweeping this topic under the rug is not an option. We gave suicide the silent treatment for decades, and it didn't work. New Zealand ended up with one of the highest suicide rates in the developed world.

In 2023, some people still believe that conversations about suicide are being hidden, suppressed or shut down. "Why aren't we allowed to talk about it?" I hear them say.

Actually, no one's stopping us from talking about suicide. But are those conversations useful - and hopeful? Or are we causing more harm?

Last month, I was astonished by a coroner's findings about a Lincoln University student who ended her life in a hostel.

"A coroner has released the harrowing details of a teenager's last months before she died by suicide," Stuff's report began.

The article, which named the dead woman and included many photos from her teen years, offered a glowing tribute to a "passionate young environmentalist" and "over-achiever" who developed a "growing determination to end her life".

The Herald went further, outlining the steps she took to "meticulously plan her death". Continue reading

• Jehan Casinader is a Wellington-based journalist, speaker and mental health advocate.

Where to get help

• In a life-threatening situation, call 111.
• 1737, Need to talk? Free call or text 1737 to talk to a trained counsellor.
• Anxiety New Zealand 0800 ANXIETY (0800 269 4389)
• Depression.org.nz 0800 111 757 or text 4202
• Lifeline 0800 543 354
• Rural Support Trust 0800 787 254
• Samaritans 0800 726 666
• Suicide Crisis Helpline 0508 828 865 (0508 TAUTOKO)
• Yellow Brick Road 0800 732 825
• thelowdown.co.nz Web chat, email chat or free text 5626
• What's Up 0800 942 8787 (for 5 to 18-year-olds). Phone counselling available Monday-Friday, noon-11pm and weekends, 3pm-11pm. Online chat is available 3pm-10pm daily.
• Youthline 0800 376 633, free text 234, email talk@youthline.co.nz, or find online chat and other support options here.

Kim officially defined suicide as an "act of treason against socialism" and issued a confidential suicide prevention order during emergency meetings of the party leaders all over the country, Radio Free Asia (RFA) reported on June 5.

An unnamed official from North Hamgyong told RFA that the details of suicide cases shared during the meeting shocked the gathered officials.

"Our meeting was held at the provincial party committee's building located in Pohang district, in the city of Chongjin," the unnamed official said.

He further added that "the large number of suicide cases in the province was revealed and some officials… could not hide their anxious expressions."

Read More

The system is broken and needs to be fixed urgently, he says.

Although New Zealand's suicide rate has dropped for the third year, Maori continue to be disproportionately affected, statistics show.

The deputy-chief coroner released the figures to June 30, 2022. These showed 538 people died by suspected suicide, down from 607 in 2021 and 628 in 2020.

Despite the fall, King wants much more help. On The Rock's Morning Rumble, the "I Am Hope founder" was in tears, saying, "If you put your faith in the system, there is a better than evens chance that your child will die.

"Because no one is coming. Now we can either sit around and we can whinge about it, or we can do one of two things about it - we can invest in our own system, which is Gumboot Friday, and if you can't invest, stop being silent.

"You need to speak up about this.

"I am sick and tired of people coming up to me and saying, 'I love your post Mike'.

"What, you mean the post where I wrote about the mum whose child has died?

"These posts aren't meant to be for you to love.

"You're not meant to love these posts; you're meant to be hurt by these posts; you're meant to be scared by these posts; you are meant to be horrified. You're meant to be angry.

"Stop being silent and leaving it for other people to do it because other people are tired.

"I'm tired of all these ... virtue signallers on social media telling me what I should be doing... I can't do it...

"I hear parents talking all the time about kids leaving their socks on the floor ... there are hundreds of families out there who would give anything for their kids' socks to be on the floor ...

"The system is f***ed up, and no one is doing anything about it."

Clearly moved by his words, the Morning Rumble hosts rallied around King.

They stressed to him that he is making a difference with fundraising events for Gumboot Friday, a charity providing free counselling for young people in New Zealand.

Social media commenters sent supportive messages urging King not to give up on his work in the mental health sector.

Mike King has long been open about his frustrations over the funding of mental health services in New Zealand.

In June 2021, he returned the NZ Order of Merit medal he was awarded in 2019 for services to mental health awareness and suicide prevention. He cited a lack of progress in these areas as his reason for returning the medal.

It had repeatedly criticised both Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and the Ministry of Health over a lack of investment in mental health services.

It was also in June 2021, the Ministry of Health rejected funding for Gumboot Friday, saying it had applied "outside the planned procurement processes".

Gumboot Friday, nonetheless, continues to raise funds and it takes place today, November 4.

People can donate $3 by texting Boots to 469 or make a financial contribution by other ways.

Every cent goes to counselling for Kiwi kids and young people.

Source

• NewsHub

Where to find help and support:

• Shine (domestic violence) - 0508 744 633
• Women's Refuge - 0800 733 843 (0800 REFUGE)
• Need to Talk? - Call or text 1737
• What's Up - 0800 WHATS UP (0800 942 8787)
• Lifeline - 0800 543 354 or (09) 5222 999 within Auckland
• Youthline - 0800 376 633, text 234, email talk@youthline.co.nz or online chat
• Samaritans - 0800 726 666
• Depression Helpline - 0800 111 757
• Suicide Crisis Helpline - 0508 828 865 (0508 TAUTOKO)
• Shakti Community Council - 0800 742 584

In Catholicism, the situation was more complex.

Suicide was thought to be a mortal sin, of course.

But as a pastoral matter, in many places, Catholics who had committed suicide were denied funeral rites and burial in consecrated graveyards for concern of "public scandal of the faithful."

In recent decades, as America has become more secular, it has also become more determined to address the rising rates of suicide.

In the United States, National Suicide Prevention Week engages mental-health professionals and the general public about suicide and culminates in World Suicide Prevention Day, sponsored annually on Sept. 10 by the World Health Organization.

Moving away from engrained assumptions about individuals' selfishness and moral failings, both private associations and government agencies have portrayed suicide as a public-health problem to address through prevention strategies.

Accordingly, religious people and institutions today operate with a more sensitive and compassionate approach to suicide.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church now recognizes that "grave psychological disturbances" can reduce the moral culpability of suicide and no longer teaches that people who commit suicide necessarily go to hell: "We should not despair of the eternal salvation of persons who have taken their own lives. By ways known to him alone, God can provide the opportunity for salutary repentance."

Even so, survey data shows that, in addition to demographic considerations, religion and proximity to suicide shape Americans' attitudes on the subject.

A new study by Lifeway Research, an evangelical firm specializing in surveys about faith and culture, shows that more than three-quarters agree that suicide has become an epidemic.

Less than a quarter believe people who die from suicide automatically face eternal judgment, with Protestants now more likely than Catholics to believe suicide victims are damned.

People with evangelical beliefs are twice as likely (39%) than those without evangelical beliefs (18%) to think suicide leads to hell.

Still, 38% of those surveyed say people who commit suicide are selfish, with more religiously devout respondents likelier to agree.

The Lifeway data suggests Americans consider suicide a serious social problem, with 4 in 10 saying it has claimed the lives of a friend or family member.

It's good for all involved that religious traditions, aided both by pastoral experience and insights from psychology and psychiatry, have adopted more compassionate beliefs about suicide.

But many faithful still do not understand that suicidality is not a sign of rejection by or of God, but rather a complex result of trauma, deep emotional disturbances and brain-chemistry anomalies.

And even fewer have the spiritual tools to grapple with the reality that suicidal ideation, as with all forms of self-harm, is a spectrum.

It may be as benign as passive, low-grade self-sabotage instincts or a one-off passing urge in a moment of distress. Or it can be as profound and intrusive as active wishes to die, whether compelled by delusions and psychoses or simply inescapable emotional torment.

Suicidal people need help, not condemnation. Yet even when faith traditions offer compassion in Scripture, doctrine or policy, it matters little to a suffering soul who experiences religiously fueled rejection by family members or friends.

I have experienced suicidal people who, in part due to active or latent faith commitments, summoned determination to keep themselves alive.

Likewise, I have heard stories of crushing pain from people whose own families essentially punished their openness about suicidal ideations with threats that God, the church and their family would abandon them.

Suicide is a near-universal phenomenon throughout history and around the world.

It is deeply related to religious themes, including meaning, hope, honour and suffering. But religious groups alone rarely have the capacity, competence or inclination to reduce suicide on a societal scale.

Millions of people contemplate suicide every year.

Religion at its worst sees them as sinners deserving of condemnation.

At their best, faithful people and institutions compassionately accompany people contemplating suicide toward connection, openness and treatment.

And when that fails, clergy and congregations must point to a God gracious and loving enough to hold not only the souls of people who take their own lives, but also to comfort and heal all who love and miss them.

• Jacob Lupfer is a writer in Jacksonville, Florida.
• First published in RNS. Republished with permission. The views expressed in this commentary do not necessarily reflect those of RNS.

Where to get help

Need to Talk? Free call or text 1737 any time to speak to a trained counsellor, for any reason.

Lifeline: 0800 543 354 or text HELP to 4357

Suicide Crisis Helpline: 0508 828 865 / 0508 TAUTOKO (24/7). This is a service for people who may be thinking about suicide, or those who are concerned about family or friends.

Depression Helpline: 0800 111 757 (24/7) or text 4202

Samaritans: 0800 726 666 (24/7)

Youthline: 0800 376 633 (24/7) or free text 234 (8am-12am), or email talk@youthline.co.nz

What's Up: online chat (3pm-10pm) or 0800 WHATSUP / 0800 9428 787 helpline (12pm-10pm weekdays, 3pm-11pm weekends)

Kidsline (ages 5-18): 0800 543 754 (24/7)

Rural Support Trust Helpline: 0800 787 254

Healthline: 0800 611 116

Rainbow Youth: (09) 376 4155

If it is an emergency and you feel like you or someone else is at risk, call 111.

The US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention reports over twice as many people died in 2020 by their own hand rather than someone else's.

Once considered a mortal sin, suicide is viewed much more moderately today.

By bringing suicide into the light, clergy, clinicians and advocates hope to reduce its frequency and do more to help those left behind.

The Diocese of Phoenix is the latest US diocese to create a dedicated ministry of mental health.

Phoenix Bishop John Dolan announced the new ministry during the diocese's first Mass of Remembrance for Suicide Victims.

He himself has been bereaved in this way - both a brother and sister died by suicide in separate incidents over a decade ago.

At the Mass, Dolan unveiled plans for the new office of Catholic Mental Health Ministry.

He said later that a diocesan office dedicated to mental health had been a goal of his since he was installed in August.

Its implementation was hastened by a gift from a local foundation that supports local religious and secular projects.

He says the new office will serve three purposes: education, accompaniment of those suffering, and advocacy for better policy and funding from government and other sources.

Education will involve informing fellow Catholics about the depth of mental health issues, he says.

The ministry will accompany those who struggle in the diocese's parishes so they are not lost. Instead, Dolan says they'll know they have a place at the table.

It also involves accompanying those who struggle with suicide loss.

"Those of you who are survivors of loss - hopefully, you know the church is here, reaching out to you, letting you know you are loved and that your loved ones are not forgotten."

Each of the diocese's 15 deaneries will host regular gatherings where people can share their stories and help one another.

The mental health ministry office will also promote a spirit of advocacy.

It will offer a voice for those who struggle with mental health. It will also ask those in leadership to make sure mental health is always at the fore of all our discussions, Dolan says.

The diocese will provide priests and deacons with a mental health "first-aid kit". This is to guide them in responding to public requests for help.

Informing laity how the church's positions on suicide and mental health have developed over the years is important too.

"It isn't a lack of will. It is a mental disorder. That's something we have to consider as we look ahead and continue Catholic mental health ministry," Dolan points out.

For decades, the church's practice was not to celebrate a funeral Mass for a suicide victim. That is no longer true.

"There are a lot of people out there hurting," says a woman helping set up the office.

"We need to recognise it and talk about it."

Source

• Catholic News Service

Where to get help

Need to Talk? Free call or text 1737 any time to speak to a trained counsellor, for any reason.

Lifeline: 0800 543 354 or text HELP to 4357

Suicide Crisis Helpline: 0508 828 865 / 0508 TAUTOKO (24/7). This is a service for people who may be thinking about suicide, or those who are concerned about family or friends.

Depression Helpline: 0800 111 757 (24/7) or text 4202

Samaritans: 0800 726 666 (24/7)

Youthline: 0800 376 633 (24/7) or free text 234 (8am-12am), or email talk@youthline.co.nz

What's Up: online chat (3pm-10pm) or 0800 WHATSUP / 0800 9428 787 helpline (12pm-10pm weekdays, 3pm-11pm weekends)

Kidsline (ages 5-18): 0800 543 754 (24/7)

Rural Support Trust Helpline: 0800 787 254

Healthline: 0800 611 116

Rainbow Youth: (09) 376 4155

If it is an emergency and you feel like you or someone else is at risk, call 111.

Gary Anderson, from Kaponga, will travel across the North Island by motorbike with his 11-year-old blue merle border collie Kairo in the sidecar seat of his 2001 Yamaha XJR 1300.

The trip will serve as a fundraiser as well as a fun trip, Gary says. Gary and Kairo are members of Taranaki Riders Against Teen Suicide (RATS), which supports mental health and spreads suicide awareness. Read more

If we want to prevent suicide and help our kids open up about mental health, there are a couple of things we need to get on to.

We need to do more to make those struggling more comfortable to speak up when they're considering suicide, King says.

Last week, King made his feelings crystal clear in a Facebook post after Olympic track cyclist Olivia Podmore's tragic death.

Schools all over the country have young people suffering from serious mental health issues, he says.

King notes when he was speaking at schools around New Zealand, he discovered about two in every five school kids will suffer a major crisis often associated with some sort of suicidal thinking. For some students, this is a one-off thought. For others, it's recurring.

King says when people hear that statistic, they panic. There's no need to panic though, he indicates. In his opinion suicidal thoughts are normal, despite some health professionals treating people who have suicidal thoughts as having a mental illness.

"Having a suicidal thought doesn't make you mentally ill, it makes you human," he says.

"If you haven't left your house at least once in your life thinking 'what's the point?' then you need to get out of the marshmallow you're living in."

King says the statistic New Zealanders should really be worrying about is that about 80 percent of young people who have recurring thoughts of suicide never ask for help.

"When you drill down and ask why, the reason they never ask for help is because they are worried about what other people will think, say and do with that information. In other words, they're worried about us," he says.

King says Kiwis need to start thinking about what we're doing to encourage others to speak up when they're struggling.

"Most of us have never had that conversation ever. My question is why?" he says.

Opening up to kids about your own vulnerability to mental health issues is important, King says. That way, he's found they feel safe to confide in him about themselves.

King says his sincere hope for other Kiwis is that they "stop pretending you have your shit together."

"If you take off your mask and be more vulnerable in front of your kids, maybe, just maybe, they'll be able to take off their mask and reach out and ask for help before something tragic happens."

Where to find help and support:

Shine (domestic violence) - 0508 744 633
Women's Refuge - 0800 733 843 (0800 REFUGE)
Need to Talk? - Call or text 1737
What's Up - 0800 WHATS UP (0800 942 8787)
Lifeline - 0800 543 354 or (09) 5222 999 within Auckland
Youthline - 0800 376 633, text 234, email talk@youthline.co.nz or online chat
Samaritans - 0800 726 666
Depression Helpline - 0800 111 757
Suicide Crisis Helpline - 0508 828 865 (0508 TAUTOKO)
Shakti Community Council - 0800 742 584

Source

• Newshub
• Image: Health Central

The Collaborative Assessment and Management of Suicidality (CAMS) offers a therapeutic framework for treating suicidal patients.

The professor leading the work, David Jobes, says a recent meta-analysis of clinical trials the programme is "Well Supported for reducing suicidal ideation [suicidal thoughts] per Centers for Disease Control criteria."

The framework outperformed alternative interventions in the trials.

"We are thrilled with the findings of this meta-analysis," Jobes says.

"Our mission in our treatment research is to save lives through effective suicide-focused clinical care."

The CAMS method "quickly reduces suicidal thoughts (in six to eight sessions) and reduces overall symptoms of distress, depression, and hopelessness," the university says.

CAMS emphasises collaboration with patients, involving them as a "co-author" in their own treatment plans.

The meta-analysis of clinical trials was performed at Idaho State University and published in the peer-reviewed journal Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior.

Associate professor Joshua Swift and his team reviewed nine national and international studies with data from 749 patients; the CAMS intervention was compared to normal or alternative treatments.

"The results showed that CAMS, in comparison to alternative interventions, resulted in significantly lower suicidal ideation and general distress, considerably higher treatment acceptability, and notably higher hope/lower hopelessness," Swift found.

Jobes says the analysis underlines the importance of treating suicidal ideation.

He says the Swift team's "incredibly rigorous work" clearly shows CAMS provides highly effective care for the largest challenge we face in suicide prevention today.

He defines this challenge as "the massive population of people who struggle with serious suicidal thoughts."

Jobes says so far nearly 20,000 clinicians have been trained in the suicide intervention therapy.

His aim is "to train many more so we can help decrease suicide-related suffering and deaths around the world."

"CAMS is patient-centric," he explains.

Relationship issues, vocational problems and issues of self-worth that make people suicidal are all issues the programme helps with.

"We emphasize empathy, collaboration, honesty and a singular focus on treating and eliminating suicidal thoughts and behaviors."

"CAMS creates a strong therapeutic alliance and it also invariably motivates patients to fight for their lives."

In the final phase of care, the CAMS framework "focuses on plans, goals, and hope for the future — a life worth living with purpose and meaning."

Source

• Catholic News Agency
• Image:Twitter

For counselling and support

• Need to talk? Free call or text 1737 any time
• Lifeline - 0800 543 354
• Samaritans - 0800 726 666
• Chinese Lifeline - 0800 888 880
  (for people who speak Mandarin or Cantonese)
• Youthline - 0800 376 633, free text 234 or email talk@youthline.co.nz
  (for young people, and their parents, whanau and friends)
• What's Up - 0800 942 8787
  (for 5-18 year olds; 1 pm to 11 pm)
• The Lowdown - visit the website, email team@thelowdown.co.nz or free text 5626 (emails and text messages will be responded to between 12 noon and 12 midnight)
• SPARX - an online self-help tool that teaches young people the key skills needed to help combat depression and anxiety.

Those involved in the sector said the numbers were greatly exaggerated.

Provisional figures from the Chief Coroner, released last week, show the year-on-year suicide numbers down as well as a marked drop during the months of the lockdown.

Read more

Where to get help:

Need to Talk? Free call or text 1737 any time to speak to a trained counsellor, for any reason.

Lifeline: 0800 543 354 or text HELP to 4357

Suicide Crisis Helpline: 0508 828 865 / 0508 TAUTOKO (24/7). This is a service for people who may be thinking about suicide, or those who are concerned about family or friends.

Depression Helpline: 0800 111 757 (24/7) or text 4202

Samaritans: 0800 726 666 (24/7)

Youthline: 0800 376 633 (24/7) or free text 234 (8am-12am), or email talk@youthline.co.nz

What's Up: online chat (3pm-10pm) or 0800 WHATSUP / 0800 9428 787 helpline (12pm-10pm weekdays, 3pm-11pm weekends)

Kidsline (ages 5-18): 0800 543 754 (24/7)

Rural Support Trust Helpline: 0800 787 254

Healthline: 0800 611 116

Rainbow Youth: (09) 376 4155

If it is an emergency and you feel like you or someone else is at risk, call 111.

Father Xavier Alwin, 36, was found in his room within the premises of a diocesan-run school in Thoothukudi district on July 1. He was a teacher at the school.

Bishop Stephen Antony Pillai of Tuticorin said police recovered a suicide note saying the priest was "frustrated."

The bishop said he was unaware of the cause of "frustration that led him to take the extreme step." Tuticorin is the anglicized name for Thoothukudi.

"The police are investigating the case. We will know the reasons after that," he told UCA News. Read more

After reading this story if you feel in need of support, please contact one of the following:

• • Helplines Lifeline 0800 543 354
  • Youthline 0800 376 633
  • Kidsline 0800 543 754 (weekdays 4-6 pm)
  • What's Up 0800 942 8787 (noon to midnight 7 days, for young people aged 5 to 18)
  • Depression Helpline 0800 111 757
  • Samaritans 0800 826 666 (lower North Island and Upper South Island) 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
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What a record to have!

If we are living in the real world, we are going to want to know why.

Much commentary on suicide rates and suicide prevention recites statistics and demographics, trying to identify the risk factors.

This is an essential part of what needs to happen; but only part.

It is commonly acknowledged that risk factors include loneliness, bullying, mental illness, trauma and deprivation. There is also risk from some illnesses which have an organic origin and these require a more specialised discussion than is possible here.

"People need to know their life is worth living no matter what is happening to them."

A consequence of the risk factors considered here can be the feeling that one's life is no longer worth living. Somehow, therefore, people need to know their life is worth living no matter what is happening to them.

Before looking more closely at this, it might be useful to identify some of the obstacles that get in the way of them being sure of this. I shall name four characteristics of our national culture that are not helpful:

Intellectual superficiality

I support the view there should be public discussion of this topic, which obviously, needs to be accurately informed and responsibly conducted.

But in a culture with diminishing regard for careful argument, preferring just head-line speak and blips of information such as are available through the social media, popular discussion often falls short of being a true ‘discussion'.

Moreover, in this cultural context, clear understanding and good judgment can be impeded by the way actual examples of pain and suffering, which we all find distressful, can distort careful argument.

Within a popular culture that is intellectually superficial, even the social sciences find it hard to compete with the pulling power of emotion.

Double standards and ambiguity in society's attitudes

It is not easy to convey the idea that one's life always matters regardless of what is happening, if at the same time society is proposing that sometimes life is no longer worth living. Whatever the case for or against euthanasia, ultimately, that is the message of legalised euthanasia.

"If youth suicides are to be discouraged, and assisted suicide made legal, the question has to be asked: what makes them different?"

How people are valued

If youth suicides are to be discouraged, and assisted suicide made legal, the question has to be asked: what makes them different?

Here we come face to face with what it means to live within a culture that values people not on the intrinsic dignity of being human but on their ability to function, that is, ‘their ability to be successful, productive, independent and in control'. (Kleinsman, Dr J Nathaniel Report, August 2017, p 3.)

The ability to function becomes the basis of differentiation between lives that are worth living and lives that are deemed not to be. Society needs to face up to what this way of categorising people implies, even apart from the question of suicide.

Loss of a sense of transcendence

We live in a culture that doesn't even look for reasons why life might still be worthwhile when it is no longer useful or has become a burden.

Are there reasons that transcend the criteria of functionality?

To see no further than what people can be useful for, or how well they can still manage, is a stunted way of looking at people and at human life. This brings us to the spiritual dimension of suicide prevention.

"To see no further than what people can be useful for, or how well they can still manage, is a stunted way of looking at people and at human life."
The Spiritual Dimension

It is not enough to analyse why a person might not want to live. We need to reflect on what usually makes people want to live.

The desire to live depends on, more than anything else, the experience of being loved.

This experience carries with it the experience of belonging, and a sense of self-worth, that normally come through the tangible experience of other people's love for us - starting with one's own parents.

The absence of this experience of being loved can be damaging, and devastating.

Fortunately, the experience of being really loved, even where it has previously been lacking, can still be a powerful source of healing.

One who ought to know, having given his own life over to helping the most troubled and most needy, namely Jean Vanier, has said ‘People who are deeply depressed are transformed when they know they are really loved.'

"The desire to live depends on, more than anything else, the experience of being loved."

The Catholic tradition dares to say God's love is made present to us in human love. The ‘spiritual' dimension of human well-being is deeply human!

Unfortunately, the human experience of being loved can fail so easily.

When the experience of being loved, especially by those who know us best, is lacking, we become unsure of ourselves, self-doubting and prone to anxiety. There is more than enough evidence of how marriage failure can affect children, and spouses.

The mystery of suicide is more complex yet, because some of its victims come from seemingly good family backgrounds.

As young people begin to move out on their own - the normal development of autonomy - the bonds that helped them to know their self-worth become looser. But they still have a deep human need to know they are truly loveable.

It comes down to this: whether we come out of strong family life or weak family life, our sense of self-worth and the value of our life, need to have roots in a love that cannot fail us.

It is not being suggested here that ‘religion is the answer'.

On the contrary, there are distortions of ‘religion' that can do the damage. But, ultimately, the love God has for us is of the kind that cannot fail us.

Unlike every other love, God's love for us, revealed in the Person of Christ and the events of his life, is unconditional and everlasting.

God's mercy pursues us even when we have let ourselves - and perhaps everybody else - down.

Christian revelation is above all the revelation of how much we mean to God - and that can mean more to us than anyone or anything that would make us think less of ourselves.

It is this game-changing love that is denied to people by widespread failure to give them a formation in life-giving, joyous faith.

This lack deprives them of the greatest reason for believing in themselves and believing their lives really matter.

They need to know this, especially in times of difficulty.

Without this deep sense of reassurance, some will look for other ways of escaping the pain of a life that seems cruel and unfair, when opportunities constantly elude them, and then self-blame makes it worse.

Short of suicide there are drugs and other ways of trying to forget.

At a deeper level, what they are trying to escape is meaninglessness. What they need is meaning - over-arching, all-encompassing, unassailable meaning!

Like all false prophets, the deniers have much to answer for.

It is an illusion on their part to think secular ideology is the touchstone of truth.

Most of humankind applauds the work of Mother Teresa and the very many others like her, from all religions, whose work is pointless if people are to be valued only in terms of their usefulness, or ability to manage for themselves.

Those who do see the point, know that human beings have a value that reaches beyond the short horizons of our life-spans, which is what makes them so special even during this life.

A spirituality that is ‘deeply human' is not somewhere ‘up in the sky'.

It is earthed in all that makes up human life.

Its raw material includes the planet we are made from, as well as the events of our daily lives.

What we do, socially, culturally, artistically, economically - no matter how small or seemingly insignificant - has a value that goes beyond our short life-times. ‘

All the good fruits of human nature, and of human enterprise, cleansed and transfigured, we shall find again.' (Second Vatican Council, Church in Modern World, n. 39). Again, we cannot fully taste and savour our lives without a sense of transcendence.

But what about situations that can only be described as bad?

People rightly try to escape poverty, oppression and hardship in all its forms.

Bad is bad, and an authentic spirituality never tries to bless what is bad or unjust.

On the contrary, it works for justice, peace and human development. So, in what sense can we still claim that every life is worth living, even when things are going very wrong?

Again, just as a sense of transcendence is the only way to see past the limited and limiting criteria of functionality, so here too, a sense of transcendence is the only way to see beyond the ills that oppress all people in one way or another.

Hope is not a mere assurance that things will turn outright. Rather, it is deep down knowing that ultimately all will be well even when things don't turn out right!

But this is a God-given awareness; it presupposes a person's openness to God, an intimate familiarity with God and God's ways. And this is what young people are deprived of in an environment of religious indifference and disregard.

Does this have something to do with our high rate of youth suicide?

If people are to know their lives are still worth living even when the odds seem hopelessly against them, they will need to have reasons that don't collapse when everything else does; transcendent reasons; God-given reasons.

"Hope … is deep down knowing that ultimately all will be well even when things don't turn out right! This God-given awareness…is what young people are deprived of in an environment of religious indifference and disregard."

• Bishop Peter Cullinane, Bishop Emeritus, Diocese of Palmerston North
• First published in Wel-com; republished with permission.

"We must all unite against this culture of bullying and learn to say ‘Enough!'

"It is an epidemic, and together you can find the best medicine to treat it."

"Bullies are afraid, and they cover their fear by showing 'strength'" the Pontiff said.

He made the comments while talking with students in Japan, and was responding to testimony from students who recalled the pressures they face in a hyper-competitive society.

The students described their feelings of inadequacy and the cruelty they sometimes face from their classmates, saying bullying and cruelty sometimes drive young people to suicide.

An alarming rate of suicide is one of the significant issues facing Japan, and Francis again returned to the topic when visiting with the country's bishops.

Francis urged the country's bishops to cater to young people in particular since they are the most prone to commit suicide and are "thirsting for compassion."

"Try to create spaces in which the culture of efficiency, performance and success can become open to a culture of generosity and selfless love, capable of offering to everyone — not only to those who have ‘made it' — the possibility of a happy and successful life," he said.

"With their zeal, ideas and energy, young people — when well-formed and accompanied — can be a deep source of hope to their contemporaries and bear vital witness to Christian charity."

The suicide problem started in Japan in the late 1990s and reached a peak in 2003 when 70 people committed suicide each day.

Although suicide rates have fallen, now the subject of discussion within the country is the issue of secondary school students and also younger primary school students who commit suicide.

Last year in Japan, more than 300 students took their own life.

Government data shows that depression, the pressure of family life and work-life, and bullying are the main causes.

Sources

• RNS
• AP News

The office was opened by Prime Minister Jacinda Adern and Health Minister Dr David Clark and is part of the government's response to its inquiry into mental health and addiction.

"Last year 685 New Zealanders are believed to have taken their lives through suicide. Each of those deaths was a tragedy and we must do more to support people in distress, or struggling with addiction," Adern said in opening the office.

The Suicide Prevention Office will be headed by Carla na Nagara the former Manawatu coroner whom Stuff reports "has unravelled the mysteries of hundreds of suspected suicides will now act to prevent them."

Na Nagara said preventing suicide is not about the opening of a bricks-and-mortar structure, but about a "shared commitment to lowering our suicide rate".

"I do believe that we can turn things around and that we can bring our suicide rate down but I also believe that this will only be achieved if the nature of the problem we face is well understood and if collective responsibility is understood", na Nagara said.

Dr Maria Baker CEO of 'Te Rau Ora' has doubts about 'the office' approach to suicide prevention.

"Contextualising suicide as a mental illness will not work ... as there are limitations in dominant medicalised western approaches to suicide prevention and to Maori," Baker said earlier in the year.

"The other issue too, of course, is going to be with mental health services - the dominant response, is psychiatric medication ... there have to be other approaches that are healing, that don't just take into account the individual's distress, but also take into account the whanau and the context in which they're coming from."

To see a decrease in suicide among Maori and Pasifika, Baker favours a more community-based holistic approach one which gives people hope in a future, where they are valued, connected and can contribute.

On August 26, the Chief Coroner released the annual suicide statistics, showing a significant rise in the number of Maori and Pacifican dying by suicide.

The Suicide Prevention Office will initially be established as a team within the Ministry of Health's Mental Health and Addiction Directorate.

Health Minister David Clark believed the office would "galvanise" work towards reducing suicide.

"I believe together we can - and will - fix this long-term challenge and make New Zealand the best place in the world to grow up and live. A country where people know there is always someone to reach out to and get help.

"We want every New Zealander to know that when times get tough, if they are in distress or they reach a crisis point, there is someone they can turn to for help", Clark said.

Sources

• RNZ
• Stuff
• Stuff
• TeAoMaori.news

In both countries, there's one Catholic for every 200 people, as opposed to roughly one for five in the United States.

The Nov. 19-26 trip will be the pontiff's fourth to Asia, following South Korea (2014), Sri Lanka and the Philippines (2015), and Bangladesh and Myanmar (2017).

Though his first priority will be to boost the small local Catholic communities, Pope Francis is bound to focus most of his 18 scheduled speeches - all in Spanish - on issues close to his heart and which heavily affect these countries.

The wide range of topics likely will include human trafficking and the exploitation of women and children in Thailand's sexual tourism industry; the death penalty; corruption; and the high number of suicides among young people.

He's also expected to call for peace and nuclear disarmament, especially during stops in Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan, and care for the environment.

Just to put some of these priorities into context:

• Sex tourism: Both girls and boys as young as ten years old are forced into prostitution in Thailand, either by local pedophiles or foreign sex tourists. Often they're forced to service five to ten clients a day, constituting what Pope Francis condemns as "modern day slavery," and a "crime against humanity." UNICEF describes child prostitution as "one of the gravest infringements of rights that children can endure."
• The death penalty: The pontiff recently changed the official compendium of Catholic teaching to reflect that capital punishment is never admissible. However, it's still allowed in Japan. The local Church has invited Iwao Hakamada, an 86-year old man who spent 48 years on death row, to meet Pope Francis. This former boxer and Catholic convert was released in 2014 when DNA analysis proved the evidence against him could have been planted.
• Suicide: According to a 2018 government report, 250 elementary and high school-age children in Japan took their own lives between 2016 and 2017 for a variety of reasons including bullying, family issues and stress. It's the top cause of death for people between the ages of 15 and 39, and Japan's suicide rate is the sixth highest in the world.
• Peace: While in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the world's only two cities to have experienced nuclear weapons, Francis is expected to reiterate his calls for nuclear disarmament. Though post-war Japan has a history of pacificism, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is currently attempting to revise the constitution to allow for rearmament. (The Nippon Carta Magna, article nine, states that the Japanese people forever renounce war as a sovereign right, aspiring "to an international peace based on justice and order.") Continue reading

For counselling and support

• Need to talk? Free call or text 1737 any time
• Lifeline - 0800 543 354
• Samaritans - 0800 726 666
• Chinese Lifeline - 0800 888 880
  (for people who speak Mandarin or Cantonese)
• Youthline - 0800 376 633, free text 234 or email talk@youthline.co.nz
  (for young people, and their parents, whanau and friends)
• What's Up - 0800 942 8787
  (for 5-18 year olds; 1 pm to 11 pm)
• The Lowdown - visit the website, email team@thelowdown.co.nz or free text 5626 (emails and text messages will be responded to between 12 noon and 12 midnight)
• SPARX - an online self-help tool that teaches young people the key skills needed to help combat depression and anxiety.

Why should this be so?

Dale Husband speaks with Matthew Tukaki, executive director of the New Zealand Maori Council and former chair of Suicide Prevention Australia.

Tena koe, Matthew, nice to catch up with you again. That's a disturbing kaupapa, isn't it? More than 600 people took their own lives last year, many of them Maori. Let's look at the Maori men's stats. What's your gut feeling as to why twice as many of Maori men would do that, compared with non-Maori?

The first thing that I'd say is that what I've learned over many years is that suicide is very complex, and no two suicides are the same.

The data that was released the other day by the Ministry of Health is the 10-year trend data, and it shows that there's been a steady increase in the number, but it stops at 2016 because that's the period that they analysed.

But the more recent data is probably the most heartbreaking of all.

In the 2018 year, the suicide rate in New Zealand had reached 668 New Zealanders.

That in itself is a big number, but the evidence tells us that, for every completed suicide, around 20 other people attempt to take their life.

It's likely that more than 13,000 New Zealanders attempted to take their lives last year.

The Maori suicide rate was 142 deaths, or 23.72 per 100,000 New Zealanders, which is the highest since 2007-2008.

The first thing is to understand that this rate has been steadily increasing for more than 10 years, and it seems to be getting worse.

But, from what I've learned in suicide, not every suicide death is about mental health problems.

People with deep depression, psychosis, anxiety, and that sort of thing are often people that we know about and can help.

But a good number of suicides are people that have never reached out for help, and to be honest, a lot of it has to do with the daily struggle of life:

• relationship breakdowns,
• whanau breakdowns,
• loss of access to children,
• the failure of a small business,
• long-term unemployment with no light at the end of the tunnel.

All of these things make up what is the tragedy of suicide.

I look at the reaction to road deaths each year. They're a similar number, and there are all sorts of actions taken to reduce the number: lowering speed limits, widening roads, more frequent breath testing — all of these initiatives to try and curb a trend that we are all disturbed and disappointed by. I can't see the same level of initiative going in to combat suicide. What are we missing here?

New Zealand had a national suicide prevention strategy that expired in 2016.

We currently have no national strategy, and while the government talks about putting money into a wellbeing budget, there's no specific replacement for the earlier strategy.

You can just throw a lot of money at suicide in New Zealand.

It's actually not the money, it's the structure of how we deliver services and to whom we're delivering them.

And you can't get away from the fact that, with Maori people, it's not just one thing.

There's a plethora of social barriers and problems that are against us at the moment, such as the recent kaupapa about Oranga Tamariki.

If you read the reports about the number of deaths of young Maori, in particular, you start seeing threads of attachment to the Oranga Tamariki system.

These young Maori may have spent a period of their life in state care, and although that may not have been the thing that pushed them over the edge, it's part of a life that's being lived tragically.

Take the example of Maori men who are released from prison.

Life on the outside is often not what they thought or hoped it would be, even though they were working on reintegration on the inside.

So you have all of these different things that go around, and there's no cohesive strategy around how we work across this plethora of social issues to bring the rate of suicide down. Continue reading

For counselling and support

• Need to talk? Free call or text 1737 any time
• Lifeline - 0800 543 354
• Samaritans - 0800 726 666
• Chinese Lifeline - 0800 888 880
  (for people who speak Mandarin or Cantonese)
• Youthline - 0800 376 633, free text 234 or email talk@youthline.co.nz
  (for young people, and their parents, whanau and friends)
• What's Up - 0800 942 8787
  (for 5-18 year olds; 1 pm to 11 pm)
• The Lowdown - visit the website, email team@thelowdown.co.nz or free text 5626 (emails and text messages will be responded to between 12 noon and 12 midnight)
• SPARX - an online self-help tool that teaches young people the key skills needed to help combat depression and anxiety.