I agree 100 Percent. We can all make a positive contribution to Guyana by setting aside our differences in Soft Political.

The Heavyweight Fights can stay in Political.

Good evening gentlemen, Tola, yugi, howdy? Very good idea.

We were discussing the suicide issue. What tangible things can be suggested and done to alleviate this situation and how can we contribute?

The issue of suicide should not be dealt with alone as suicide, but as an issue regarding how to deal with personal challenges.

Guyana's situation with domestic violence and suicide is caused mainly by  not having the tools to deal with challenges, controversies and substance abuse.    

Since 2006 a program is in place in Guyana where 400 youth were trained in leadership, peer counselling and suicide intervention at UG, by NEUTRAL facilitators.  

One hundred youth and young adults from this program  was selected and given further training in peer counselling, thus forming peer counselling groups and sent to high risk communities.

Among others, two school dropout  from the peer counselling  program, recently graduated from UG and high school and are now teachers at the schools from where they dropped, years ago.

This program was degraded, but reasons will not be given on this positive thread.

The Guyana Police Force  establishing national crisis phone lines  is a good initiative, but the police creditability needs to be improved first, for trust to be established with callers.

Phone lines alone will not prevent suicide, but an immediate  system of follow-up needs to be established.

A suicidal person trusting a counsellor is huge in terms of their recovery.         

there is need for councilors to be able to recognize the issues and help with counseling and treatment of mental illness    

I believe MOST of the victims are Uneducated.  So the first step will be to ensure kids are in Scho0l and are progressing.  Parents must get involved from the beginning(Ma and Pa).  Schools, TV and other Agencies(NGOS and Govt) must play a vital Role in teaching the value of life and the path to success.

True, parents should play a big part from  a young age in suicide prevention, but in Guyana they seldom attend meetings. Most times only a few women attend PTA meetings, with the guys hanging out at rum-shops.

At a school when we needed help to erect a metal basketball hoop with concrete. We sent a boy to get a bottle of vodka at nearby store and let the men hanging out at the bus stop see him bringing it back.  Five guys followed him to help.

I am not sure how to change this.        

Organize Civic/Community Groups early in every Village. Govt needs to build Recreation/Learning Centers in every Village( Smaller villages can be combined), VOLUNTEERS can be recruited to help with coaching, teaching skills, building and repairing. Youngsters must be engaged in Farming, Fund Raising and other activities that will help not only the Centers but themselves.

Zed, after years in Guyana I believe only  a national effort will see significant improvement to the suicide situation.

Many NGOs are doing their little part, but they are fragmented in their efforts, without government moral support.

Any suicide prevention  effort in Guyana cannot operate effectively without collaboration with schools and health centres. They also need to be strong regional and local support.

Around 2006 the MOH formed the National Suicide Prevention Committee. This committee needs to be resurrected and coordinate a national program bringing all the NGOs, social and religious bodies together.

For your part, find an NGO that operates in GY that you can support. 

Sandra at the  Lusignan-Good Hope Learning Centre[Google] and her team are doing really good work helping children and families.

This is positive work in Guyana, among all the challenges.      

Organization is exactly what should be done, but it is challenging with lack of motivation.

Recreation and learning centres are significant issues. The people need to learn how to deal with challenges and lack of recreation centres is causing them to do insignificant things.       

Please see my post  in the previous thread on this topic. I was trying to copy it over but did not know how to. It addresses some of the issues were are discussing here. If you are able to copy it over, I will appreciate it.

i am willing to help if we can come upmwith something. I am based in Guyana and have lots of time. We need to translate the talk to actio, if possible. 

Tola, there was a lot of recreation centers,which was

adequate for the communities,are they still there???

19+ years ago i am aware they were there and

functioning.

Most male adults have no time for recreation centers. They prefer to sit with their buddies at a rum shop. They should be spending time with their families.Have some good family time..use the rum money for the family.

Zed

Member

I agree that there are many factors that result in suicide in Guyana. You all know them. They -suicides happened before the PPP government, during the PPP government snd will happen during all future governments. Let us get that out of the way.  

The main thing we need to address is what people do when they are in crisis. Are effective support mechanisms in place for them to turn to in order to receive help and support? There is also a stigma in Guyana against seeking help, of trusting agencies set up to help. the family network supposedly strong shows how weak it is when crisis rear it's head. More fundamental is the decision-making process that leads to people making that decision to end his/her life. For me, though the support mechanisms need to be more effective more important is that we have to work on the problem solving skill,  conflict management skill and emotional intelligence of our population at an early stage, in schools. This must permeate the whole society, be taught consistently to families and communities, to young adults and elders. This must happen over the long term and not be dropped as so often happen in Guyana until critical mass is achieved and thus it becomes self-sustaining. We need to provide suppirt and skills so that conflicts are managed in positive ways and that decision made are effective in dealing with issues and problems, that people are proud of themselves, emotionally sure of who they are and not dependent on others for affirmation.

Copied above.

Thanks very much. 

highlight the text you need to copy ( using a press press hold and drag action of the left mouse button) Press ctrl +c and it will be copied to the clipboard. Go the the place you were you need to insert the copied text. Press Ctrl + V, to paste the text

Thanks for the suggestion. I do this when I am using my laptop but am unable to do so when I am using the IPad. I will try to master this. Something else to learn.

I think the way to deal with the high suicide rate in Guyana is to ask the experts to design programs for educating the public.  A hotline is a good move but it is not enough.

The media - print, TV and social should be used  to educate Guyanese as to the value of life.  Too many young Guyanese kill themselves just for breaking up a relationship.  We cannot afford to lose people like this.  People must be taught that there is always hope.  Whatever they experience at present could improve in the future.  Let's study the root cause of the suicides and tackle it.  Why Supanaam has a high suicide rate?  Is it a local problem?  Every life has value let's not just talk but do something about saving it.

I am very shocked to hear that attempted suicide is a misdemeanor offence for which persons could be liable for imprisonment for two years in Guyana. This is like punishing a victim. This law has to go and should not be enforced until such time.

Just a few months ago, the phrase on the airwaves, "Happy people doan kill themselves." 

I agree with the statement. 

And we all know that throughout Guyana, it is depressing.

Those who take their lives see no future in it-no purpose to life and no purpose to live.

So what makes a person want to live who is a borderline suicide candidate. He must have purpose to spur him onward. And that is the help that is needed.

Faith in God gives the purpose of better tomorrows. The person of such mind is centered in God.

That was a disgusting and ignorant political statement from the coalition if I remember correctly. Everybody at some point of his/her life has sad moments, but that's not reason to kill yourself.  People must be educated as to the value of life and there is room for hope.

I just want to say that money is not the reason to make someone happy.  So suicide is not only driven by economics.  Some of the happiest people are poor people who just live from day to day once they can reap or hunt their food.

I am no suicide prevention expert. I just have a little commonsense idea. One little method people can use to take their minds off depressing and hopeless thoughts: READING.

I understand that the reading habit has lost its appeal in Guyana for a good while. People must be encouraged to read, whether it's a romance, mystery, suspense thriller, comic book, magazine, whatever. Reading takes one's mind away from personal problems, diverts one's attention away from moping and contemplating death, provides an escape valve and delays suicidal thoughts. Such delay is vital because it gives one time to reconsider things. A lot of suicides are committed in a moment of rashness. Picking up a book and finding a quiet corner to read will help.

This is good advice.  The main thing is to stay busy.  Arguing on this site helps too   

At my age, this place is a good place to spend some time. Is like a road gaff-colonial times.

Older people are using the internet a lot...just look at D_G 

Thanks everyone, this is very useful dialog and information.

The community centres are still there built by the sugar estates. Some have computers and net access, but not much programs for adults.

Mibicuri, Black Bush Polder  also have a community centre, but most of the  toilet and electrical fixtures was stolen. The outhouse is not useable.

Donating pro cricket equipment to the schools is not such good idea, because the grounds was not maintained to play. The school cricket  pitch has tall grass with snakes around it and the community centre  was used for grazing animals.  

The person in charge of the community centre would allow friends to take their animals there and padlock the gate.  When the ground is soft the animals would damage the cricket pitch.

We found soft ball bats was more useful to play in small spaces in school yards.The students previously used broken furniture  for bats and stubby bottles filled with sand for a ball.  Quite ingenious.  

Reading should be 'enforced', because students spend hours playing violent computer games.

In any net café near schools, students can be seen playing games during recess and lunch breaks. Some even skip class to play games, unless its enforced by the net café, like Rams at Rose Hall.   

Zed...local contacts are very important to any program success in Guyana. Overseas members can bring resources, but implementation with local people, forms that connection.

The previous effort will be restored and our committee was asked  to draft a report regarding what was done and challenges, causing it to be degraded.

There is evidence to make heads roll, but this is not our intention.

As I said before, any significant result with suicide prevention in Guyana needs to be coordinated through the government, because its too fragmented individually.

Past experiences proved that local officials needs to be onboard and accountable to higher authority, or any effort will be spinning their wheels.

When our committee hears back from the report with a  course of action, I will dialog you our contact information.          

VVP, public education, especially for parents is very important. Its one of the reasons why some youth go astray, due to no parental guidance.

During our main training sessions, the media was involved that resulted in others making contact with the program and forming youth teams for sports and other activities.

I am aware of  Supernaam, because I frequently visited Aurora, Airy Hall, Vilvoorden and Hampton Court, where we collaborated  with women groups through Canada Fund/CIDA support.

A  misdemeanor offence for suicide attempts is not helping the client to resolve their problem. Unless you can monitor a person 24/7, putting any additional pressure on a  suicidal person, might result on a successful second attempt.      

Dat's why nobaddy hey kill demself yet. Me waiting fo tell somebaddy: If yuh vex, drink Marvex.

Would that kill them or just give them a good cleaning out 

Good to know you are involved Tola.  I think the media could be involved by giving free space for public service announcement.  Keep pounding the message for people to seek help instead of killing themselves.  The government has to follow up and help anyone seeking help.  

It might bleach out some racial-parochial-prejudicial muck.

Good evening Cain,

Busy day today.

The current administration demonstrated it willingness to move Guyana forward and address issues like these. We must all put shoulders together and assist our Brothers and Sisters in Guyana to end this epidemic.

Mosques, Churches and Temples can also play a vital role in assisting those who have lost hope and feel helpless in Guyana today.

For some of these young men, their families are the problem.  They still treat young adults as if they are kids, and enforce rules and expect to be obeyed.  These are different times.

If some one is in love with some one else, why is it the business of the parents?  Unless the child is a minor.

There is a definite clash between a traditional rural based culture and the more modern world that young people are growing up in.

Parents need to be taught that they need to LISTEN to their ADULT kids, and not just issue commands, and demand to be obeyed.

I don't think so, given that many are caught up in an archaic stuck in the mud type of thinking.

What are they going to do?  Tell the people to engage in some ritual or read some book?  Some of the most backward, problematic and judgmental hypocrites are our religious leaders. 

People will communicate with those who have empathy and who are non judgmental.  Many of the suicides comes because some feel trapped, or feel that they aren't living up to expectations, or feel that they are being judged.

What is needed in Guyana is the introduction of modern forms of mental health training, which does include peer group discussions and counseling.

Too bad sana-pod and castor oil could  not be just as effective.

Every Sunday morning at the sugar estate hospital, dozens  of kids would line up  for a spoonful  of castor oil, with the same unwashed spoon.

Sana-pod brings back memories of my big brother standing over me with his belt, until the large enamel cup is empty.

Mixing it with sugar and lemonade, did not prevent the barfing.

A memory I would like to forget, but to bring back those carefree boyhood days of swimming, picking cane and going with my friends to the fruit farm with our donkey cart.

Falling asleep on the cart, our faithful donkey would walk unguided and stop in front of our logie.

An emotional memory with a tearful eye.         

I disagree.

Religion still plays a very important role in Guyana till this day.

Members of congregations can act as peers for those in destress and in need. Do not underestimate the importance of Mosques, Churches and Temples.