Suicide

The girl happens to be in leaving cert class.Nobody knows if it was the cause or not.A terribly sad case.The parents were away on holidays too.

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God love her and all belonging to her.

Absolutely the worst case scenario in my job. I used to be invested in grades and lads fulfilling their potential but now success is offering all the support you can and getting them through safe and ready for the real world.

Currently looking after 6th years and there have been 5 attempted suicides in this group over the last two years. Some lads were lucky, for others it was a cry for help. We do the best in our job, a system set up where if someone is identified as struggling then supports are put in place, however we only have them for a fraction of the week. Along with those 5, there are another 7/8 with mental health issues but haven’t gone too far thankfully.

Two things I’ve noted. School is not the root cause of the mental health issues. The majority of the lads with issues have had some sort of trauma in the past. The death of a parent, the seperation of parents in an acrimonious manner. Parents with alcohol/drug addiction. These issues probably were never dealt with at the time and fester. The use of drugs in some lads only accerbates things.

The second thing I now know is that the mental health services of the state are chronically under funded. Lads with severe anxiety and depression on waiting lists for months for CAHMS. GPs just prescribing tablets. No link between those under 18 in CAHMS and then moving to adult care.

I came back to school on Monday to find out one of the lads we had recognised as being in trouble a few months ago had attempted to take his life over the Easter. One of his teachers had noticed a mood change, we stepped in and spoke to home. They agreed and councelling and a GP appt was organised. Spoke to his Mum for a good lot on Monday as he was being let out of hospital that day and had nowhere to go. Pieta House wouldn’t touch him as they only deal with people who have suicidal thoughts, not the ones who try follow through. Jigsaw (who are excellent) said it was too serious for them to help. For a few hours on Monday his poor mother looked like she was going to be on 24/7 watch without any support. Thankfully some agency who I currently can’t remember were contacted and stepped in to help.

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Jigsaw are incredible, I’d have great time for them.

Pieta on the other hand

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Pieta is a Christianic fund-raising organisation

Absolute insanity that a parent going through that has to ring around various services to find someone who’ll help. If the Government want to outsource mental help supports the least they could do is having a department acting as a broker who do the heavy lifting in terms of hooking the person up with the correct service.

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Crazy alright. I’ve actually become someway informed in what to do when the initial mental health signs become evident. There is a good bit of help/support out there. However when things seem to get more serious there is a serious lack of support. Very easy see now how people get into a spiral.

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It is and their practices leave a lot to be desired

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There has been a significant rise in female suicides rates in the last decade. The advent of the smart phone and social media seems to at the root of alot of anxiety disorders.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0001691822002219

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I assume as a parent, if you notice your kid being down or sad over a prolongued period you should ask for help?

Or is there other warning signs?

5 kids in 1 school is scary

The missus niece who’s nearly 36 has attempted it twice, no issues at all until she hit 33 living in Peru took some weird pyscadelic drugs fucked her up no end, first attempt was half hearted second she jumped out in front of a bus, femur and ankle broken, was a miracle she survived, she’s back on medication now and doing ok but you’re nearly expecting the call at any stage that the ultimate has happened. She also has a daughter nearly 4, when she’s ok it’s all good but it’s literally like threading a needle in terms of what’s going to happen next.

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That’ll do it alright. Hard come back from that.

Same with a lad in town here, was in Australia in early 20’s, took something that didn’t agree with him… Some Wexford posters might remember a certain video of lad running around the town naked about 2 years ago, dancing about, then threw himself in the Slaney but saved. Also threw himself off a railway bridge, when there was no train for half an hour, broke his 2 legs… Sad.

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Jeepers. Is she back home now or still out there?

Id say they caused many more than they prevented

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Irregular school attendance
Poor punctuality
Dropping out of extra curricular act
Change of friend groups
Hanging out alone
Weight loss, gaunt look
Sudden drop of academic grades
Tired/fatigued

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cheers

Ahayuasca. There is some synthethic variant doing the rounds now that is inhaled. Causes serious issues. Have a lad who has taken it and it has totally melted his head. Has went from a bright capable fella to someone who has withdrawn from everything. Things came to a head, he opened up about it and is getting help. However it is a long road for him.

Drugs like alcohol affect people in different ways. Some people can handle it, others not so well.

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Fair play to them. DIL may have had a purpose once upon a time, but I struggle to see what it has really achieved, there doesn’t appear to be much on the ground to support it. Perhaps I’m not seeing the full picture however.