Suicide Prevention

 September 10th is observed as World Suicide Prevention Day.  

What can schools do to prevent suicide?

1. Create regular mental health awareness sessions. 

2. Create a positive attitude towards failures and encourage learning from failures. 

3. Encourage students to seek counselling and refer at-risk students.  

4. Train teachers to identify warning signs and support children who are emotionally distressed. 

5. Collaborate with parents or legal guardians. 

What can peers do to prevent suicide?

1. Encourage the peer/ friend to seek professional counselling or refer them to one. Don't take it upon yourself to counsel the person. 

2. Ensure safety comes before confidentiality. Break the code of silence. Inform a trusted teacher, adult, family member or counsellor. 

3. Avoid mocking the distressed peer/ friend and avoid trivializing their concerns. 

What can parents do to prevent suicide?

1. Understand the warning signs. 80% of suicidal people give out verbal and behavioural warning signs for weeks and months. 

2. Avoid magnifying or minimizing the child's concerns. 

3. Seek timely professional help. 

4. Don't assume that suicidal thoughts won't reappear after counselling. Be vigilant. 

5. Avoid shaming the child for being sensitive. 

Anti-bullying

Recognize the type of bullying

1. Physical Bullying (More common among boys)

• Hitting, punching, pinching, kicking, tripping

• Damaging the property of the target. 

2. Verbal bullying 

• Insulting 

• Name calling 

• Using foul language

• Taunting 
  

3. Social Bullying (Covert form of bullying which is not easily noticeable. More common among girls)

•  Intimidation

• Spreading rumours about the target. 

• Making false accusations against the target. 

• Ganging up against the target. 

• Intentionally excluding the target or making them feel excluded. 

• Contemptuous facial expressions, remarks, tone or laugh.

• Reminding the target of their past failures, mistakes etc repeatedly.

• Making jokes that are hurtful and then justify it by saying “I was just kidding”.  

• Mimicking to mock the target.

4. Cyber bullying 

• Using the internet or technology to harass, intimidate, insult, or ruin the reputation of another.

• Online bullying or harassment can be reported at https://cybercrime.gov.in

Prohibit every form of bullying whether in the classroom, dormitory, dining hall, or anywhere within the school premises. 

Causes of bullying - Why the bully bullies?

1. Insecurity 

2. Envy

3. Power struggle

4. Prejudice

5. Negative peer pressure

6. Lack of purpose in life

7. Lack of empathy 

Bullies don’t operate alone

• Flying Monkeys - ‘Flying monkeys’ is a term to describe people who are used by a narcissist to harass their target. In the school environment, you will notice that bullies use gullible people to gang up against their target. Teach students to become independent thinkers. 

Dealing with students who bully

• Some students don’t realise when they are bullying others. They are working on the instructions of another. Encourage independent thinking. 

• Students who are acting out of envy need to direct their energy to work on themselves rather than against others. 

• Students who are power-hungry need to be taught 21st century leadership skills. 

• Students who lack remorse, are acting out of spite or are repeated offenders need to face strict consequences. 

• Parents must be notified.