The Long Read: Why the US Navy is deploying more chaplains for suicide prevention
GIOVANNA DELL’ORTO, of Associated Press, reports on moves to deploy chaplains as regular members of the crew on more ships…
Canada prepares to expand assisted death amid debate
Toronto, CanadaReuters Canada is preparing to expand its medically assisted death framework to become one of the broadest in the world, a change some want to delay due to concerns vulnerable people have easier access to death than to a life without suffering. Starting in March, people whose sole underlying condition is mental illness will […]
Australia struggles to ‘close the gap’ in Indigenous living standards
Sydney, AustraliaReuters Australia is failing to meet almost half its targets for improving the lives of Indigenous people, including on the problems of adult incarceration and suicide, according to a government assessment published on Wednesday. Australia’s roughly one million Indigenous citizens have inhabited the land for roughly 60,000 years but track well below national averages […]
Sight-Seeing: Suicide is not a sin to be judged
JACOB LUPFER, in an article first published on Religion News Service, says views among believers and faith leaders concerning suicide have evolved to be more sensitive and compassionate…
On the Screen: Mental health takes centre stage in ‘Dear Evan Hansen’
MARCUS CHEONG watches ‘Dear Evan Hansen’…
Suicides among Japanese children at record high during pandemic – media
Tokyo, Japan Reuters Child suicides in Japan are the highest they have been in more than four decades, local media have reported, citing the country’s education ministry. As the COVID-19 pandemic prompted school closings and disrupted classrooms last year, 415 children from elementary to high school age were recorded as having taken their own lives, […]
Essay: Suicide prevention for our youth is doable – we must act now
As the US marks National Suicide Prevention Month, GLEN BLOOMSTROM, a member of the National Action Alliance for Suicide Prevention Faith Communities Task Force, says there is no better time to take the step to be trained in suicide prevention measures…
Film: One woman’s fight to bring light into dark places
DAVID ADAMS reviews ‘The Girl on the Bridge’, a documentary released in Australia this week to mark World Mental Health Week…
Sight-Seeing: “Natural helpers” – needed reinforcements to head off looming suicides of despair
GLEN BLOOMSTROM, director of US-based Faith Community Engagement for LivingWorks Education – a suicide intervention training company, writes, in an article first published on Religion News Service, about the importance of “natural helpers” in suicide prevention…
Outrage in India over Dalit farmers’ suicide attempt after police beating
Lucknow, IndiaThomson Reuters Foundation A lower-caste Dalit couple in India attempted suicide after police beat them and destroyed their crops, triggering calls on Thursday for an end to brutal evictions of poor minorities. An online video showing half a dozen police officers dragging and beating the couple with sticks to evict them from government-owned land […]