COPING WITH LIFE: Teach them to seek comfort in spirituality IN
any programme of suicide prevention, education is essential.
Equipping youths with coping skills, including critical thinking
and a sense of humour to laugh at oneself and life's problems
will improve their coping abilities. But this approach alone is
insufficient. Even the eight strategies of the Suicide
Prevention Action Plan announced by the health minister (NST,
June 5) do not go far enough. Our thinking affects our emotions
and behaviour. Suicide prevention programmes, to be more
effective, must bring about transformation in the attitudes and
perspectives of our youths towards life. For instance, it is
crucial that youths are taught to acknowledge that life is
complex and often unfair, and that everyone will inevitably go
through extreme experiences of disappointment and sorrow at one
time or another. With the right attitude and perspective, these
experiences are not so insurmountable that suicide is considered
the best and only way out but