News

Andrea James* struggled with suicidal thoughts as a teen and only decided to hold on to life after she read the book, Confronting Suicide Helping Teens at Risk, and realised that other persons had similar struggles.

She is among the fortunate ones to have been pulled from the brink of taking her own life. Some 779 other Jamaicans have not been so lucky. Between 1996 and 2009, all of them committed suicide.

Although that figure represents one of the lowest in the world, the 779 deaths have had devastating effect on the lives of thousands of family members left behind and, by extension, a nation already reeling under other forms of pressure.

The drive to prevent suicide here continues through several initiatives, the forefront of which is Choose Life International (CLI). It will use World Suicide Prevention Day on Friday to call attention to suicide and to further develop strategies for prevention. It will do so through a seminar to be held at The Wyndham hotel in St Andrew on that day, 'Many Faces, Many Places: Preventing Suicide in Our Nation'.

Guest speaker

Chief medical officer in the Ministry of Health, Dr Sheila Forrester, will be guest speaker. Other presenters include consultant psychiatrist Dr Anthony Allen, therapist and paediatrician Dr Angela Ramlal-Williams and suicidologist and author Dr Donovan Thomas, head of CLI and author of Confronting Suicide Helping Teens at Risk.

The seminar, to start at 8:30 a.m., will seek to answer probing questions about suicide.

The launch of the second edition of the book, Confronting Suicide Helping Teens at Risk, will also take place at this function, which is being endorsed by the Ministry of Health, Medical Association of Jamaica, Nurses Association of Jamaica among other organisations.

CLI is a member of the International Association of Suicide Prevention which is celebrating its 50th Anniversary.

*Real name withheld