President stresses teachers' role in tackling youth suicide

Youth suicide was one of the most urgent issues facing Irish society today, the President, Mrs McAleese, told a conference on suicide prevention in schools.

She said the death of any young person was always heartbreaking, but the special grief associated with suicide was something few could imagine. "Because there is something, isn't there, about suicide that hits every one of us, almost punches us like a defeat?"

The President was speaking yesterday at a Galway conference on suicide prevention organised by the Irish Association of Suicidology and the National Suicide Review Group.

She said it was tragic that suicide was now the most common cause of death among 15 to 24year-olds in this State. Between 1976 and 1997 the male suicide rate in this age group increased from 7 to 27 per 100,000 people.

"The needless waste of a young life that might, with a bit of help or thought, have managed to get successfully over a bad patch wreaks devastation on family and friends. All so unnecessary, all so unavoidable if we work together effectively to create the right climate for the mental health and well-being of our young people," Mrs McAleese said.

She said it was very important that teachers and other people working with teenagers were given "the necessary insight, the knowledge, the wisdom, the help to address the issue of suicide prevention in, and through, our school system".

She referred to the saying: "Praise our youth and they will blossom" and said teachers had a crucial input in fostering that encouraging environment for children during their school years.

Earlier yesterday the gathering of teachers and healthcare workers was told that widespread myths about suicide were dangerous and could result in more suicides.

Two Canadian suicide prevention researchers, Mr Antoon Leenaars and Ms Susanne Wenckstern, warned that one of the most dangerous myths was that suicide was normal. On the contrary, Ms Wenckstern said, it was an indication of serious psychological problems.

She also rejected the argument that talking about suicide would cause it. "Talking about suicide and all mental health problems can lead to improving mental health and community skills, raise self-esteem, reduce school failure, increase self-control and reduce depression for all youths," she said.

Mr Leenaars said there was no one explanation for a suicide, though people often attributed a suicide to a relationship breakdown, a failed exam or an unhappy home. "The youth himself or herself is equally often blinded by a single event. Suicide is complex, more complicated than the child's or adolescent's conscious mind is aware," he said.

Teachers were also warned that schools could be sued if they did not put suicide prevention programmes in place. In 1985 a school in Springfield, Illinois, was sued for negligence by the parents of a 14-year-old boy because it did not have a suicide prevention programme in place. The case was settled out of court.