New Straits Times

Safety net for those at risk

- HANNA SHEIKH MOKHTAR hanna@nst.com.my

JUST last month, an attempted suicide by a teenager at a school in Banting, Selangor made newspaper headlines. A Form One boy was spotted climbing onto the roof of the school in a bid to commit suicide after an allegedly failed romance.

In the incident, he was rescued after he was coaxed out of his suicide attempt for some 30 minutes with the help of officers from the Civil Defence Force and Fire and Rescue Department.

Fortunatel­y, he only sustained light injuries to his arm during the rescue attempt and was taken to Banting Hospital for treatment. It was said he had also written a note prior to climbing onto the roof, detailing why he planned to end his life.

His misadventu­re has left the nation wondering “why” and “how” it could happen in the first place. Didn’t anyone notice anything wrong with the teen’s behaviour before the incident? Didn’t anyone try to help?

There was backlash from the public, with some commenting online that getting rejected by someone you like is a lame or ridiculous reason to end one’s life, especially for someone as young as that.

Often, however, people fail to see the real issue here. The reason the teenager wanted to end his life was plain to see. But it was also clear to mental health profession­als he lacked certain coping mechanisms, namely problemsol­ving skills, stress management as well as the ability to express emotions and feelings. Coupled with lack of support from his family and school, he did not look beyond his failure to win a girl’s heart, and come out a stronger person after a difficult phase in life.

Dr Nurashikin Ibrahim, a public health physician at the Ministry of Health’s disease control division, who presented the topic Suicidal Behaviour Among Adolescent­s —Should We be Concerned? at the recent 2019 Mental Health Conference held at the Education Ministry in Putrajaya, said that according to the World Health Organisati­on (WHO), suicide is the second leading cause of death among young people between 15 and 29 years old worldwide.

Statistics from the National Suicide Registry of Malaysia in 2009 showed a suicide rate of 1.18 per 100,000 population while a systematic review in 2015 estimated the rate of suicide here as six to eight per 100,000. Out of that number, 53 youths between the ages of 15 and 24 were

reported to have committed suicide.

This sad state of affairs was revealed to some 350 educators and mental health profession­als from various schools and organisati­ons attending the conference.

Themed Building a Safety Net for Youth at Risk in Schools, the event was jointly organised by PINTAR Foundation (PINTAR) and Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman (UTAR), with the support of the Education Ministry and funded by Yayasan Hasanah, a sister entity of Khazanah Nasional Bhd.

According to WHO, suicidal behaviours are complex processes that can range from suicidal ideation (which can be communicat­ed through verbal or non-verbal means), planning of suicide and attempting suicide to committing it.

“There were about 5.5 million adolescent­s in Malaysia in 2018, with more than half of school-going age. The Malaysian National Health and Morbidity Survey 2011 indicated that among the age groups, 16- to 24-year-olds were found to have the highest prevalence of suicidal ideation (1.7 per cent), suicide plan (0.9 per cent) and suicide attempt (0.5 per cent),” added Dr Nurashikin.

To combat rising mental health issues among adolescent­s, the Education Ministry and Ministry of Health have formulated a few programmes to help teachers and counsellor­s identify at-risk students and put in place necessary interventi­ons through initiative­s such as the Healthy Mind Programme, National Strategic and Action Plan for Suicide Prevention and yearly seminars on mental health.

Saiful Effendi Mohd Zahari, head of the discipline management unit at the Education Ministry, said that the rising number of cases of suicidal teens in the country is worrying. Also of concern is the rise in self-harming acts by teenagers who also harbour suicidal thoughts. “In a lot of these cases, I find that the school and teachers should have been able to keep the student away from having suicidal thoughts, let alone commit them.”

Class teachers are in an even better position than school counsellor­s to spot odd or suspicious behaviour among schoolchil­dren with support from the K.A.S.I.H.: Mental Health Literacy Training for School Teachers initiative, a joint programme under PINTAR-UTAR Mental Health Literacy Programme (PUMP 2.0) by PINTAR and UTAR’s Kampar Campus’ Department of Psychology and Counsellin­g.

After a year of training 85 teachers at 26 secondary schools, PUMP 2.0 project leader Pheh Kai Shuen said that more than 50 per cent of the teachers now have better awareness of mental health practices. During the training, the teachers learnt to identify signs and symptoms of mental disorders/crises, possible risk factors, where and how to get help and evidenced-based treatment. After the training, the teachers reported higher engagement with people with mental disorders. Participan­ts were also reported to have shown a small improvemen­t in correcting mental health stigma-related behaviours after receiving mental health literacy training.

In support of these initiative­s, Faridah Yang Razali, who is school management division student affairs director at the Education Ministry, said: “School teachers, as the personnel working with students day-to-day, are most likely to recognise their psychologi­cal challenges. However, there is lack of adequate training for school teachers to support these students.”

When teachers have poor awareness of mental health issues, it will be more difficult to identify problems in students and take preventive measures.

“It is therefore important that teachers be equipped with the necessary knowledge on mental health issues, management strategies for at-risk students, and referral to profession­als,” she added.

Saiful Effendi advised students who find themselves having difficulti­es dealing with their worries and unable to resolve them to seek out teachers who they trust and can confide in, or other adults they think can help them.

“Sometimes their peers and classmates can also be of great help,” he said.

 ??  ?? A group of students undergoing group counsellin­g conducted by a school counsellor. At group counsellin­g, students can share their anxieties.
A group of students undergoing group counsellin­g conducted by a school counsellor. At group counsellin­g, students can share their anxieties.
 ??  ?? Faridah Yang Razali
Faridah Yang Razali
 ??  ?? Saiful Effendi Mohd Zahari
Saiful Effendi Mohd Zahari

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