Teen Suicide Prevention Week Aims To Tackle Mental Health Crisis

The Department of Basic Education says Teen Suicide Prevention Week, which runs until this Sunday, aims to equip young people with essential skills to deal with mental health challenges.

The National Department of Health statistics indicate that 7 426 children under the age of 18 attempted to take their own lives between April and December last year .

The South African Depression and Anxiety Group SADAG will host online webinars across multiple social media platforms to mark suicide prevention week.

SADAG Operations Director, Cassey Chambers says mental health stigmatisation is slowly dying out in society.

"The number of people who are reaching out to SADAG everyday is so encouraging that people in that time of need know that they can pick up the phone and speak to us. But theres also something to be said that out of the 3 000 calls we receive a day, that those people had no one else to speak to. They felt like they could not call anyone else in their lives to say Hey Im not coping or Im not okay or I need help. So, I think as a society we really have to challenge, are we really checking in with the people around us?