Adelaide Asquith from Berwick started a petition to give more funding to organisations which try to prevent youth suicide. The petition was created after Jess Cummings and boyfriend Thom Hartland created a Facebook group, ‘Coming Together To Prevent Youth Suicide’.
By Bridget Scott and Lilly O’Gorman
IT’S usually an issue that nobody wishes to talk about, but finally the silence of suicide has broken.
Schools, organisations and the wider community are joining to combat this crisis, passionately led by three youths through the creation of a Facebook group and petition.
By the time Jessica Cummings was 17, she had lost a friend to suicide.
The former Beaconhills student has known four people to take their own life in the past two years, but what’s worse is she is not alone.
Her boyfriend Thom Hartland, a Narre Warren South resident, is in the same boat, having had his own friends commit suicide.
So in a bid to put a stop to this epidemic, Jesssica and Thom created a Facebook group.
The group, which is called ‘Coming Together To Prevent Youth Suicide’ was created just over two weeks ago, however it already has more than 13,000 members.
Jessica said it was the most recent death of a local teenager that prompted them to act, and they set up the Facebook page that night.
“We wanted something to change, but we weren’t sure what we were going to do,” she said.
The pair decided a facebook group was the best way to start, yet never did they think it would become so large.
“We never expected it to be so big and so heavy,” Thom said.
The page currently plays host to thousands of young teens stories of their own struggles.
It is not only a public forum which welcomes personal anecdotes, but is also an opportunity for youths to show their support to help conquer an issue affecting the livelihoods of thousands of teens worldwide.
However despite the positive impact this page is having on teens, Jessica and Thom emphasised that it is not a page you can refer to for help
“It is not a crisis page, we are here to make awareness of the crisis phone lines you can call,” she said.
Not only does this page provide information about systems of support, but it also directs viewers to a petition.
After the creation of the Facebook page, Berwick year 12 student Adelaide Asquith decided that she too wanted to make a difference.
“I’ve been thinking for a while that I really wanted to do something,” Adelaide said.
So in her own quest to raise awareness of teen suicide, Adelaide started a petition.
“It explains the desperate need for funding, and so there can be more support, education and awareness, particularly in schools,” the student said.
Aware of the hesitation within the community to discuss the issue of teen suicide, Adelaide said schools and the public need to realise it was already out there.
“With the prevalence of social media like Facebook, the conversation is already there,” she said.
Jessica also agreed the subject needs to be more widely discussed.
“We are focusing on making it less of a taboo subject,” she said.
Adelaide explained that each time someone signs the petition, an email is sent to four key members of parliament.
She said the main aim of her petition is to make people conscious of the problem, as well as educate the wider community about the issue.
“It is twofold – it’s about support for young people, and awareness for adults,” she said.
Together, Jessica, Tom and Adelaide, are all hopeful that their group and petition will help people realise depression is not an indication of failure.
“People need to know it’s not a sign of weakness to be suffering from depression,” Adelaide said.
As reported in the Gazette earlier this year (Suicide watch, Wednesday 4 April) Windermere Child and Family Services has begun rolling out a pilot suicide prevention and intervention program to at least four local schools.
More than 200 people, made up mainly of St Francis Xavier staff and including 25 representatives from about five other local schools, attended a general awareness program at St Francis Xavier College on Monday.
Windermere social worker and project manager Bronwyn Owen designed the school-based program and said the conversation about suicide was growing louder.
“I think it is gaining momentum,” Ms Owen said. There are four schools, including St Francis Xavier College and Beaconhills College, which have signed onto the pilot program, and several other schools in the region have registered interest.
Principal of St Francis Xavier College Paul Desmond said Monday’s session opened the door for more discussion and it was heartening to see principals and staff from five other schools in attendance.
He said principals from other local schools had shared the same concerns regarding the high numbers of students committing suicide.
“It is (heartening) because it shows an acknowledgement that there is a problem out there,” Mr Desmond said.
“The worst thing we could do is bury our heads and pretend that this will go away because we are talking about young people and their lives; we’re talking about the future.
He said the next step would be offering staff training through Windermere’s program.
“We acknowledge that we’re not experts in this field, and nor should we be experts.
“We’re going into this with our eyes open.”
