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SINGAPORE : Global studies estimate that for every suicide that occurs, there are five or six attempted cases. Another 20 to 100 people have contemplated killing themselves.
And with an increase in teenage suicides in the country, the Samaritans of Singapore (SOS) is marking its 40th year, by turning its focus on youths.
Experts have said that the best way to handle teenage problems is to engage youths in their natural environment, like schools and cyberspace.
Teenage suicides here have reached a five-year high, with 19 cases in 2009, up from 12 in 2008.
And SOS said that while numbers are small, it wants to spot the high-risk cases early, by working closer with community partners such as voluntary welfare organisations, schools and government agencies in the coming year.
Christine Wong, the executive director of Samaritans of Singapore, said: "If this is out there in the community, then people who face a little issue would not have to wait till a crisis happens and then think of suicide as the only way out."
Dr Daniel Fung, the chief of the Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at the Institute of Mental Health, said: "Most of the suicides that occur in the young are among out-of-school youths. So how do we help them? How do we make sure that if you drop out of school, what are the social safety nets that are available.
"Different agencies provide different support, but everybody does come into contact with a young person. So a young person in distress, they need to have available all these resources. And the best way is that everybody works outside of their silos of care, across disciplines, across professions."
The Institute of Mental Health currently runs a programme in primary and secondary schools as well as junior colleges called "Reach", where school counsellors and teachers can seek professional help in dealing with difficult cases. The SOS also runs workshops and talks for students, and in the year ahead, it is looking to extend its reach, by training up peer support groups to better identify and address issues as they arise.
Experts agree it is important to understand how teens relate to others.
One Australian professor shared his experience working with youths who harm themselves.
Professor Graham Martin, who is a national advisor on suicide prevention to the Australian government, said: "The common understanding is that you do not put young people who self-injure into groups. They will just learn better ways of doing it.
"But actually, what we found was that it is not true. What happened was that they found really good ways of helping one another. They actually all had each other's phone numbers, and they would telephone these other young people...and they were saying, 'Look I am feeling really rotten, can we meet for coffee, can you help me?'"
Professor Martin is also director for the Centre of Suicide Prevention Studies in Young People at the University of Queensland.
He added that that young people need to be given more help in coping with stress.
He said: "They tend to be more impulsive. So they tend to be in a phase of perhaps seeking alcohol more, or seeking sexual relationships more, or just being more impulsive. So they are more likely to do things which might actually lead to their deaths."
And to ensure that those who need information get it quickly, the SOS has revamped its website to make it more user-friendly and appealing to the young.
Its number of its 24-hour hotline is 1800 221 4444. - CNA/fa/ms
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