Better Health Magazine, PO Box 123, Harbord, New South Wales, Australia, 2096. Tel: +61 2 9905 0137
by Brent Williams
It’s hard for people to understand why someone would want to take their own life. Can life really be so bad, things so tough, that you just want to give up?
Some people say that Australia is the greatest country on earth. A place where you can feel at home no matter where you have come from. A land of abundance and opportunity. Why, then, do we have one of the highest rates of youth suicide in the world? What is going wrong? More importantly, what can we do to stop it? Two young men are heading up this fight with a fresh approach that is achieving extraordinary results.
It’s hard for people to understand why someone would want to take their own life. Can life really be so bad, things so tough, that you just want to give up? Unfortunately, for many young Australians today, the answer is yes, although we can’t ask them why they decided to kill themselves because they are dead.
Saying this bluntly does not mean I’m cold hearted, but rather that I’m comfortable talking about suicide. One of the biggest challenges with suicide is that it’s such a taboo subject in our society. People usually consider it too difficult to broach or are fearful they may actually encourage someone to commit suicide by talking about it. Yet this lack of understanding contributes further to the problem.
Dale Beaumont and I are co-founders of the youth development program, Empower U. We have also written the self-development book, ‘The World at Your Feet’, and are directors of Tomorrow’s Youth, an organisation aimed at filling in the gaps in teenagers’ education.
The inspiration for this much-needed initiative developed a few years ago after Dale and I had life-changing experiences that made us sit up and get serious about life. Dale had lost his brother in tragic circumstances and I was robbed at gunpoint. Our experiences drew us closer together and made us think about our lives and our future. We came to the realisation that we needed to develop additional life skills if we wanted to achieve the goals we had set for our future.
We also reasoned that if we weren’t equipped with these skills, then presumably many other teenagers weren’t either. This led to the development of Empower U, a course specifically for young people aged 13 to 21 to help them develop communication skills and positive self-esteem, and to help them make the most of what they have within. This course has already touched the lives of thousands of young people in Australia and overseas. Our weekend program has been acclaimed as one of the best of its kind in the world today.
Some of the areas covered over the weekend are goal setting, communication, leadership, teamwork, career success, money management, creative thinking and much more. We didn’t want a program that focused on negative issues, such as drug and alcohol abuse. We believe that if you empower people with tools and strategies to improve their confidence and self-esteem, then they will have the emotional intelligence to avoid negative outlets and addictions.
Each year, over 400 Australians aged 15 to 24 kill themselves, making suicide the second highest cause of death in this age group after road accidents. I believe that suicide is often a cry for help. So many teenagers have underlying issues involving grief and pain, brought about by a host of factors such as being bullied at school and feeling isolated, or having lost someone close to them. Because we are never taught how to manage our emotions, we cope in varying ways as best we can. This is where the symptoms of suicidal behaviour begin. For people with poor coping skills, their troubles can escalate into something much more serious.
We believe another major challenge is the fact that our society is advancing at such a technological rate that teenagers are losing a lot of the communication skills necessary to be able to talk to people about their problems. With the advent of email, the internet and mobile phones, more and more teenagers are not using natural, face-to-face communication and are losing touch with the pulse of society.
Parents are responsible for providing their children with a stable home environment, both physical and emotional, and play a key role in the development of their child’s mental state. They must listen to teenagers and be supportive, encouraging appropriate expression of emotion. As my friend Dale points out, this is a challenge that parents need to manage. “If parents don’t take responsibility for this and fail to keep a healthy, natural relationship with their child, then the chances of them falling through the cracks is increased.”
Our seminars have stopped hundreds of teenagers from doing the unthinkable. By allowing teenagers to face their fears and let go of past negative experiences, they can start afresh with a clean slate. This is like lifting a huge weight from their shoulders. I feel the main reason we have had these wonderful results with teenagers is due to the environment we create. We encourage openness and honesty, with the reassurance that we are not there to judge. Negative thoughts slowly convert to positive ones. If you can create the right environment, you can achieve anything you want.
If you, or someone you know, is considering suicide, ring one of these numbers and talk to someone who will listen:
Lifeline ph 13 11 14
Kids’ Help Line ph 1800 551 800
For more information about the Empower U program run by Tomorrow’s Youth or to book for an upcoming program, visit www.tomorrowsyouth.com.au or call 1300 732 782.
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