Suicide and Children
There is a large misconception when it comes to suicide on children under 12 years old. Many people when asked the question “Are children under 12 years old at risk for suicide” answer no, how could they be? According to the Statistics Canada it is the second leading cause of death in children aged 10-14 and it accounts for 12,000 hospital admissions each year for children aged 6-10 (). At the early age of 8 or 9 children have a thorough understanding of what suicide is but even before that children self-arm themselves without full knowledge of the lethality of it (Canadian Mental Health Association [CMHA], 2013). Although child suicide is infrequent many children attempt suicide and many more times than even reported (CMHA, …show more content…
Like stated above, I was part of the misconception group about suicide . I had no idea that children had such thoughts so young. It is hard to grasp because I was so fortunate in my upbringing I never had to worry about anything. I can see that in situations where parenting isn’t the best and substance-abuse is a part of the household along with bullying and self-esteem issues can really take a toll on a …show more content…
I don’t think when I was a child I was made aware of mental illness in general as well as where resources and help were provided. There was education on sex and drugs but I do not recall anything about coping with emotional issues. There should be steps taken to help the children with feelings of depression, worthlessness, rejection etc. The faculty of elementary, middle, and high schools should be trained to identify at risk students, where to refer students for treatment. The root cause of young children attempting suicide is bullying. Bullying tends to go on for long periods of time especially on the playground where there is limited supervision. In schools there should be a firm punishment for bullies. The curriculum should involve education on social and coping skills, problem-solving methods and places where the children can go for more help. I think if nurses and counsellors came into the classroom and talked about suicide prevention especially at a young age, children will understand it more clearly and be more inclined to seek help. However this one shot approach should be accompanied by an additional program such as PE (Healthy Child Manitoba [HCM], 2014). Research show that the one-time approach may not be as beneficial as hoped (HCM, 2014). These awareness programs do increase the general knowledge about suicide and mental health but does little change to
There is a large misconception when it comes to suicide on children under 12 years old. Many people when asked the question “Are children under 12 years old at risk for suicide” answer no, how could they be? According to the Statistics Canada it is the second leading cause of death in children aged 10-14 and it accounts for 12,000 hospital admissions each year for children aged 6-10 (). At the early age of 8 or 9 children have a thorough understanding of what suicide is but even before that children self-arm themselves without full knowledge of the lethality of it (Canadian Mental Health Association [CMHA], 2013). Although child suicide is infrequent many children attempt suicide and many more times than even reported (CMHA, …show more content…
Like stated above, I was part of the misconception group about suicide . I had no idea that children had such thoughts so young. It is hard to grasp because I was so fortunate in my upbringing I never had to worry about anything. I can see that in situations where parenting isn’t the best and substance-abuse is a part of the household along with bullying and self-esteem issues can really take a toll on a …show more content…
I don’t think when I was a child I was made aware of mental illness in general as well as where resources and help were provided. There was education on sex and drugs but I do not recall anything about coping with emotional issues. There should be steps taken to help the children with feelings of depression, worthlessness, rejection etc. The faculty of elementary, middle, and high schools should be trained to identify at risk students, where to refer students for treatment. The root cause of young children attempting suicide is bullying. Bullying tends to go on for long periods of time especially on the playground where there is limited supervision. In schools there should be a firm punishment for bullies. The curriculum should involve education on social and coping skills, problem-solving methods and places where the children can go for more help. I think if nurses and counsellors came into the classroom and talked about suicide prevention especially at a young age, children will understand it more clearly and be more inclined to seek help. However this one shot approach should be accompanied by an additional program such as PE (Healthy Child Manitoba [HCM], 2014). Research show that the one-time approach may not be as beneficial as hoped (HCM, 2014). These awareness programs do increase the general knowledge about suicide and mental health but does little change to