We know that more and more children, almost every other young person, experience mental illness at some point during their upbringing and that the most common cause of death among young people is suicide. Suicide is a serious and tragic event that affects not only the person who takes their own life, but also their family, friends and society at large. In order to reduce the risk of suicide and increase support for children and young people who struggle with mental illness, it is important to increase awareness of suicide prevention. Increased awareness can contribute to more people seeking help in time and society becoming more supportive and understanding towards people who struggle with mental illness.
There are several ways to raise awareness of suicide prevention:
- Training: By educating the public, schools, workplaces and other organizations about suicide prevention, more people can learn to recognize warning signs and act in ways that can save lives.
- Openness: By talking openly about suicide and mental illness, we can break taboos and reduce the stigma surrounding these topics. This may also encourage more people to seek help in time.
- Available Resources: By increasing the availability of resources such as psychological treatment, support groups and crisis lines, people struggling with mental illness can get the help they need in a timely manner.
- Cooperation: By collaborating between different organizations, authorities and social actors, we can work together to reduce the risk of suicide and increase support for people struggling with mental illness.
In order to strengthen the work with increased knowledge about suicide and further promote mental health for children and young people, Ommej can proudly say that we have entered into a collaboration with Suicide Zero. In addition to the Ommej app being strengthened based on the quality review that Suicide Zero's experts have carried out, we together have an opportunity to increase and spread knowledge about the situation of children and young people and jointly educate, produce data and make children's vulnerability visible. "An exciting and important collaboration where we, as actors with common goals and visions, can make an even bigger difference together," says Nicolina Fransson, founder and CEO at Ommej.
Ommej's work contributes through its breadth of data that is continuously collected from a large number of children and young people. This not only enables increased knowledge about children and young people's mental health and vulnerability, but also about suicidal thoughts and suicide plans - which increases the potential to save lives. "We at Suicide Zero see that there is a great need for increased knowledge about suicide and suicidal thoughts for both young people themselves and the adults around them. By giving them knowledge and tools on how to act when they themselves or someone close to them is unwell, we increase the possibility of saving lives," says Linn Enheim, regional manager for Västernorrland and Västerbotten at Suicide Zero.
Together we can make a difference!