You're not Alone

It was an unforgettable scene. He sat against the wall. Head in his young hands, hunched over. Surrounded by grey, everywhere. The rasp of his deep breaths echoed through the empty air. But to him, the air was a poison. Every day it got worse. There was no sense to it anymore. The safety clicked off. One thing was certain; He wasn’t alone.

A person commits suicide 40 seconds. That adds up to 1 million suicides each year globally.

The pink wallpaper hadn’t shone through the mass of photos for years. The family at the beach. The family skiing. The family gathered for the father’s birthday. The girl sat on her bed, staring up at them all. The tear welled and fell. Her mother called her to dinner. Instead she turned her head down to the knife poised at her wrist.

100,000 teens commit suicide every year. And the female suicide rate is growing.

Martin walked along the school corridor, alone. He felt like the only person there, although chatting students lined the walls. He walked up to his locker and opened the door, peering at his reflection in the mirror. How ugly he was. His mother had always said that he was the most handsome boy on Earth, and he had believed her. But recently, he hadn’t really been in touch with his mother. She had died in a car crash a few years ago, and he’d never felt the same since. The familiar punch in the arm tore him back to reality. He stayed still, eyes focused on his reflection. “Morning ugly! ”The thug jeered. “How are you today fat faggot?” “Just leave me alone”, Martin muttered in response. The bell rang, but as he started to move towards his classroom, the thug give him a big shove, and he and all his papers went cascading down to the floor. The corridor was empty by the time he had gathered them all.

Bullying and Cyber-Bullying are some of the largest causes of teen depression.

“Late” said the teacher standing by her desk. Martin trudged over to his desk and slumped into the chair. “So as I was just saying, I will now hand back your results from the unit test last week, which remember, counts towards your final semester grade. Most of you did very well, although there were a few exceptions”. A few people swung around in their chairs to look at Martin. They all knew that he was the dumbest in the class. The teacher proceeded around the classroom, handing out the papers. When she reached Martins desk, she handed back his results without comment. F, read the paper, circled in bold red pen. Nothing was ever going right in his life. What was the point of living?

1 in 4 people will suffer from Mental Illnesses in the course of a year.

The counselor sat back in her chair in triumph and content. She always loved the feeling of helping someone. She’d been devoted to helping combat depression and teen issues since a close high school friend had attempted suicide, primarily influenced by depression. She looked up as the boy entered the room. It was the boy she had saved from deep depression. He had been close to losing it before he discovered her. It was so sad that people didn’t think that there was anyone there for them. “Hello Martin”, she said.

34% of Teenagers suffer from some sort of depression at some point.

The photos on the wall stared down over the family huddled around the hospital bed. The girl slowly opened her eyes. “Where am I?” she asked to the crying people around her. Her mother’s eyes were red with tears. She sat up and felt pain in her hands. She looked down to notice the stiches on her wrists.

Suicide affects everyone, those who love you, those who know you, those who depend on you. For some of them, their life ends when yours does.

He sat at the bedroom window. Staring straight, his gaze unwavering. The tears slowly drying on his cheeks. He had heard the gunshot from the next street. It had been his best friend. What to do without him. To walk into school tomorrow without him. He was alone.

Suicide is the second largest cause of teen deaths. More teenagers die from suicide than Cancer, Heart disease and any other illness combined.  And the UK has the highest self-harm rate in all of Europe; 400 people in every 100,000. That is a staggering figure. And we, as a class, as a school and as a nation, can help bring it down.