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Media to be more careful when reporting suicide

September 14, 2015 6:48 pm

A suicide counseling and support organisation says increase in self harm could be a sign of a break down in the threads of society.

Speaking on FBC TV’s 4 The Record Program, president of the Youths for Mental Health Lionel Rogers says the media plays an important role and therefore needs to be adequately equipped to report on such crisis.

“We noticed that a lot of media organisations are still mentioning the methods of suicide and we fear copy cats as there are a lot of them in the country. We have also started to sensitize young people on their status on Facebook on how to respond to respond to people crying for help Facebook”.

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Rogers adds that many young people who do seek help have little or no support from those who they consider immediate family.

He adds mental illness and the stigma associated with it is nothing to be ashamed about but rather a topic to be discussed openly.