– call for more donor funding, qualified counsellors

COMMUNITY-based services could be more effective in the prevention of suicide than the traditional services offered at hospitals, said Secretariat Manager of the Guyana Equality Forum, Joel Simpson.

His sentiments were shared by other stakeholders who believe that persons choose to utilise community-based services because of their fear of stigma and discrimination.
“There are huge stigmas attached to going to the psychiatric ward for certain problems…people feel comfortable going to community-based centres,” said Simpson in an invited comment on Tuesday last.

In that regard, he believes that programmes offered by the government should reach people where they are.

Amidst the observance of World Suicide Prevention Day, Simpson said while the community-based services are important, they are not enough.

Although faith-based organisations act as substitutes in some cases, he said those organisations do not offer psychosocial services.

“Counselling services are important but there are not enough qualified counsellors…there is need for training and capacity building to provide psychosocial services,” Simpson said.
The equality forum, which is a network of over 20 civil society groups, has been offering counselling to some extent but Simpson believes that there is a need for more collaboration to tackle suicide.

“We need to collaborate to provide more services and alleviate the scourge…the human resources are limited so we need donor funding…this is an area where government should step up and provide support to organisations on the ground,” said Simpson.

Deputy High Commissioner of Canada to Guyana, Ray Davidson also said that investment is needed.

There should also be investment in public awareness, he said, adding that awareness would breakdown the stigma that exists.

Persons also need to be aware of the assistance that is available.

“There would never be enough resources…one in four people will suffer from mental health issues every year,” said the Deputy High Commissioner.

He believes that the only way to continuously prevent suicide is through a collective effort.
Davidson explained that the United Kingdom has even gone as far as to develop mental health first aid which is available to employees.

Through the programme, employees are able to access professional help on a regular basis. He encouraged Guyana to adopt a similar approach.

In the past, Guyana was at the top of the list for the country with the highest per capita suicide rate in the world, but, efforts from various organisations and the Ministry of Public Health have resulted in the country dropping lower on that list.

Before April of this year, Guyana had the highest suicide rate in the world at 44 per 100,000. Guyana was last ranked fourth in the world behind Sri Lanka, Lithuania and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (North).

The World Health Organisation (WHO) had determined the world average of suicide to be 16 per 100,000 people. Over one million people take their own lives globally every year- this works out to about one life every 40 seconds.

Although the latest tabulations indicate a steadily rising rate of suicide in Guyana from 2000 until 2012, there is a notable decrease between 2012 and 2015, which would signal that the various systems put in place, including a suicide hotline, have started to make the desired impact.