IT’S been a struggle all right, but she’s not about to give up on her goal of stopping teenage suicide in its tracks here once and for all, says former Miss Guyana World, Lisa Punch.

The President of the local non-governmental organisation, Prevention of Teenage Suicide (POTS) Guyana, which took its title from her ‘Beauty with a Purpose’ project for the Miss World 2015 Pageant, Punch has, since her return from her international engagement been quite busy.

For starters, she’s been meeting with government officials and other dignitaries, with many of whom she has had the opportunity of discussing what she intends to achieve through her campaign.

And while she can safely boast of having a zealous team of counsellors and talking quite a few young people out of giving up on life and ending it all, she’s yet finding it tough to develop strategic links with like-minded organisations and acquire the financing necessary to sustain the work of the organisation; tough to the point where POTS now has no office space from which to operate.

But though the lack of financing has put some of the organisation’s signature projects, like its school sensitisation tours and 24-hour hotline service, on hold, POTS is now preparing to take suicide prevention to a whole new level, by taking their message to the communities.

NO LETTING UP
And according to Lisa, challenges or no challenges, she has no intention of ever letting up.

With that resolve in mind, POTS Guyana is now calling on the government and the private sector to become more involved in supporting its work.
“Certain ministries are involved, but not enough. They’re involved, yes; they’re there to advise and stuff like that… but they’re not actively involved,” Punch told the Guyana Chronicle in a recent interview.

The organisation is also planning to form suicide awareness clubs in schools across the country.
“We intend to start the clubs in all the schools, but we’re just awaiting the Ministry of Education to approve the policy document that we submitted to them earlier this year,” Punch said.

One of the main areas she has her sights set on is Baramita, the community in which teenage suicide is reportedly the highest. But it is a dream of hers, however, to service the entire Region One (Barimas-Waini) and not just Baramita.

Asked what their school sensitisation tours are about, Punch said, “We talk about awareness and being your brother’s keeper, and signs you look for in a person who might be thinking of hurting themselves…

WELL RECEIVED
“It’s been very well received, because even welfare officers would tell me that in the community that they’re working, these kids would tell them this is what they learnt…
“They’ve commended us on the job that we’re doing, so we know that it’s working, and people are talking about it.”

Meanwhile, POTS Guyana’s Public Relations Officer (PRO), McCalman, confirmed that the organisation has recognised the need for more active involvement from the government and other organisations and is also now inviting teachers to become actively involved in curbing suicide among school-aged children.

She expressed concern for the lack of Welfare Officers and Guidance Counselors within the school system, and the need for wider consultations with families and members of the communities.

“We’re calling on the teachers now to be involved; these clubs are very essential, because it’s like you have a peer group in our school, so you have that support system in your school.
“When we look around in some schools, there isn’t any welfare officer; there isn’t any guidance counsellor. Many of the guidance counselors are just there to part fights; there isn’t anyone to counsel students… If the student has any problems at home, there isn’t anyone there. Even the teachers sometimes, they are responsible for the trauma that a lot of students go through,” McCalman said, adding:
“What we’re working on currently is not just to counsel students and teach them about the warning signs, but to also go into the communities and reach out to the parents as well.”