After son’s suicide, father takes to counseling online

Losing a child to suicide is one of the worst traumas a parent can suffer. That’s why after the death of his 21-year-old son in May, Hu Jianmin (pseudonym) set out to prevent others from going through the pain he did – by reaching out to young people online contemplating suicide.

Hu, 46, first started his outreach through chat groups.

Within a month, he had helped 20 people and assisted police in dissuading four others from suicide attempts.

Most of them were around his son’s age. “Many of them just need a person who cared. It just takes a little effort to bring them back,” said Hu.

Hu said his journey began after learning that in the months leading up to his son’s death he zhad joined a QQ chat group of people who were considering suicide.

To experience what his son had gone through, Hu joined the same group.

Despite being mocked and insulted about his mission, he eventually added some members as friends. Hu said he eventually friended 55 people.

In private, he would console and encourage them to open up to their families.

Sometimes he would stay up and chat with them until 4 am.

“I never knew if it’ll be my next few words that save a kid,” he said.

Soon after, Hu discovered that he was not alone in his mission, and has since teamed up to create a hotline chat group to carry on his suicide prevention work.