Youth suicide expert brings prevention message to Waikato

If you care enough, you can save a life.

That was the key message in a visiting youth suicide prevention expert’s speech at Wintec last Wednesday.

VISITING EXPERT: Professor Hatim Omar shared his passion about preventing youth suicide in a talk at Wintec last week. Photo: supplied.

Professor Hatim Omar’s speech and question and answer session attracted a crowd of 155, including students and staff from Wintec’s Centre for Health and Social Practice and other tertiary institutions, coroners, youth workers, and health workers.

Omar is professor of paediatrics at the University of Kentucky, and chair of the Stop Youth Suicide campaign – and his passion for the project is clear.

“If I can save one kid’s life, it’s worth it,” he said.

“We can never prevent everything, but we can make a dent.”

Having someone to turn to in difficult moments can be the difference between life and death for young people, Omar said.

Being prepared to deal with challenging situations – like being offered drugs – is also important.

His campaign involves getting into Kentucky schools to educate both staff and students each year.

Because youth suicide can be a “same day crisis” in someone without a history of mental health issues, work done before a person reaches crisis point gives the best results.

Education sessions give staff the confidence and knowledge to support at-risk young people, while the students are shown where they can get support, presented with the reality of suicide, and taught why it is not a way to deal with problems.

The method follows a Franklin D Roosevelt philosophy: “We can’t build the future for our youth, but we can build our youth for the future.”

New Zealand must also consider whether it is building its youth to deal with today’s challenges– statistics show 113 fifteen to 24-year-olds took their lives in 2010.

This represents 30.5 per cent of deaths in the age group, making suicide the second most common cause of death after motor accidents (116 deaths in 2010).

But Omar’s early intervention method has already helped to reduce the incidence of youth suicide in South Waikato, under the guidance of Waikato DHB Population Health promoter Lindie Smith and her team.

Another group working to reduce the incidence of youth suicide in New Zealand is Riders Against Teen Suicide (RATS).

Hamilton nurse Kahui Neho organised the Green Ribbon Campaign – supported by the Super Maori Fullas – which aims to raise awareness of youth suicide, get people talking about it, and let them know what services are available to help.

Because the rate of suicide among young Māori is more than two-and-a-half times that of non-Māori, the groups work closely with iwi organisations.

RATS member and nurse Roberta Clunie said Omar’s talk answered a lot of questions for her and her colleagues, and gave them confidence in their approach to the campaign.

“Knowing that we are doing a good job, from the man that’s leading the way for us – it’s just great.”

“He’s just such an amazing man…. Even today when I woke up this morning, it was like ‘wow’.”

Lifeline Aotearoa’s advice on helping a friend: