Equip schools with counselling services to enhance suicide prevention

Mr Henry Andoh, Board Chairman of Weinglo Family International (WFL), has called on Ghanaians to support the government to equip schools with counseling services to prevent suicide.

He said suicide prevention was a shared responsibility and everyone needed to play a role by being one another’s keeper, creating more awareness, investing in suicide prevention, and supporting people suffering from conditions that made them vulnerable.

He made the call at a press conference as part of Weinglo Family International’s fifth anniversary held

in Accra on Sunday on the theme: “5 years of suicide prevention activism, the achievements, challenges and the future.”

Mr Andoh noted that most schools did not have counselling programmes for students who are stressed and depressed due to their bad grades and family circumstances and urged school heads to make it a priority to ensure students reach out for guidance.

He said most schools who have counsellors did not have access to provisions such us structures and paintings to aid in effective counseling.

“You can have a school population of 500,000 students with only one counselor; how many students will he be able to attend to within 24 hours?.”

“We must build structures and employ counselors to make counseling therapy more efficient for the youth,” he said.

He said WFL conducted a survey in some selected schools in the Greater Accra Region and it was found out that, people as young as thirteen years had considered the thought of committing suicide.

“This is very alarming for us all; it could be any of your friends or family involved in such thoughts.” Suicidal thought does not happen just immediately; it makes the mind look for solutions and if it doesn’t find one then the thought sets in,” he said.

He said some girls lacked the means to afford menstrual pads during their menstrual periods, which caused suicidal ideation.

Mr Andoh urged all teachers and heads of schools to avoid bullying in schools by adopting measures such as rules and regulations to ensure discipline and accountability in schools.

Mrs Gloria Boatemaa Andoh, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) for Weinglo Family International, in her remarks, said the main solution for suicide was love and care.

As humans have become more emotionally driven in this century, it is a matter of love, care and acceptance that would solve suicidal tendencies, she said.

She said with regard to students, it was mostly exam failures and relationship issues that led to the cause of suicide.

“Therefore, I encourage all students to be steadfast and focus on their academic achievements to be the ideal person they want.”

“Suicide prevention can be curtailed if we talk people out when they share their problems,” adding that WFL would continue to dedicate and support prevent suicide.

Weinglo Family International aims to help reduce the prevalence of suicide by building the mental fortitude of individuals using data driven evidence based practices and personal experiences.