Today marks World Suicide Prevention Day. Established in 2003 by the International Association for Suicide Prevention and the World Health Organization (WHO), 10 September each year focuses attention on the issues, helping reduce stigmas and raise awareness among governments, organizations and the general public, giving a singular message: suicides are preventable.
Suicide remains a critical global issue, affecting individuals and communities worldwide.
In 2022, Child Helpline International’s child helpline members reported that one in every four (26.6%) of the children and young people making contact with the child helpline was doing so because they had concerns about their mental health. Within this general mental health category, almost a fifth of the contacts (18.4%) related specifically to suicidal thoughts and suicide attempts. Additionally, a further one in ten of the contacts within the mental health category related to self-harming behaviours (9.4%). Girls contacted child helplines significantly more than boys in cases of suicidal thoughts and suicide attempts, concerns about self, and self-harming behaviours.
The data from child helplines indicates that self-destructive tendencies consistently remain an important mental health condition raised by children and young people who reach out to them.
Similarly, Missing Children Europe reports that mental illness is among the top reasons why children run away from home or institutional care. However, in 2023, only nine hotlines for missing children (out of 18 respondents) stated recording information on a child’s mental health. The most common reasons children get lost and go missing include experiencing a mental health problem which hindered their ability to return home.
Early intervention and support for mental health issues, appropriate training for those working with vulnerable children, and comprehensive data collection on missing children are essential to protect and support children facing mental health challenges.
Child Helpline International and Missing Children Europe are coming together in the coming days to provide two days interactive training for counsellors, psychologists, volunteers and other staff working for their child helpline members. The training aims to share practical guidance on counselling processes and communication when responding to children and young people expressing suicidal thoughts or ideations, and to understand and address the associated risks when a child or young person goes missing, or runs away.