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06/30/08
Suicide Hero
02/17/08
As the suicides of these two cousins brings the toll to 16 in one small area, a
shocked community is asking why them? IT WAS the news the people of Bridgend least wanted to hear. In a town where suicide seems to be spreading like a contagion, two more young people had taken their own lives within hours of each other. Kelly Stephenson, 20, was found dead in a locked room on holiday in Kent on Valentine's Day. She had just been told her cousin Nathaniel Pritchard, 15, was critically ill in hospital after "self-harming" and was unlikely to pull through. Pritchard died on Friday, when his life support machine was turned off. The pair lived just 14 houses from one another and were said to be "very close". They seemed to have everything to live for. On her Bebo site, Stephenson, who called herself Baby-Girl-Kelly, says: "I just love to live life to the full. Always up 4 a laugh and I don't like takin things too serious," although she did admit her greatest fear was losing those she loved. A keen footballer, she had just signed for Porthcawl Lightning Strikers. Pritchard, too, seemed to have plenty of friends around him. Their deaths – just a week after 18-year old Angeline Fuller killed herself – bring the grim toll of young suicide victims in Bridgend to 16 in the last year. All were aged between 16 and 27 and all hanged themselves. The scale of the deaths, and the similarity in their execution, has sparked panic in the 40,000-strong town. Terrified of fuelling the phenomenon, those in authority have increasingly sought to deny any link between the deaths. Both Mark Walters, coroner for Bridgend and the Glamorgan Valleys, and South Wales Police have played down the notion that the spate is any more than a freak coincidence. Campaigners, too, have lowered the shutters in the face of the tragedy, with the suicide prevention charity Papyrus going so far as to urge newspapers to stop reporting the deaths. Yet, it takes an act of supreme will to see such a high number of suicides in such a short space of time as anything other than a sign that something is seriously amiss in the Welsh town. Although there is no common denominator connecting the 16 people who have taken their own lives, most have been a friend or acquaintance of at least one of the previous victims. Stephenson, for example, knew both Gareth Morgan, 27, and Liam Clarke, 20, who hanged themselves last year. Equally disturbingly, a large number of them belonged to social networking sites such as Bebo or Facebook on which news of each suicide has spread like wildfire. Within hours of Pritchard's death, messages such as "What happened m8? Going to miss you. Cannot believed what has happened. There is no better place for you than down here. But I will no now that u r safer up there m*. Sleep tight" had been posted to his site. After some of the suicides, remembrance walls made up of virtual bricks were erected on dedicated sites, leading some to speculate that the thought of securing "virtual immortality" was driving some of these vulnerable young people to take their own lives. Bridgend MP Madeleine Moon is not one of those who wants the deaths to be played down, although she would prefer it if they were reported in less sensational terms. But she believes her constituency is like a microcosm of Wales at large, where the suicide rate has been disproportionately high for many years. "This is not the time for delay," she has said. "This is the time for action. I do not want to be talking to journalists about further deaths. (I] want to talk about success and how wonderful Bridgend and Wales are to live, to work and raise a family in." There is nothing in particular about Bridgend that marks it out as likely to have more than its share of teenage suicides. Like most towns in South Wales, it suffered economically as the coal mines closed, but recovered more quickly than some, with job opportunities opening up as multi-nationals moved in. But then, there is often no obvious reason for the suicide clusters which have cropped up from time to time throughout history. Researchers have long acknowledged that suicide can be "catching", with those who have lost a loved one in this way more at risk of taking their own life. Sigmund Freud held a conference on the phenomenon in the 1920s, researcher David Phillips christened it "the Werther effect" after Goethe's book, The Sorrows Of Young Werther, which is said to have inspired several young men to shoot themselves in the 18th century, and sociologist Loren Coleman wrote a book on it in the late 1980s. In the last six months alone, two distraught mothers have committed suicide months after their teenage daughters killed themselves. Suicide clusters are also common in closed communities such as prisons, psychiatric hospitals, military barracks or schools, or in small towns where people are more likely to know each other. Four friends in Cromarty, in the Black Isle, killed themselves within the space of 12 months in 2004-05. What is less clear is what lies behind such clusters. Dr Stephen Platt, of Edinburgh University's Research Unit in Health and Behavioural Change, says research suggests a large number of factors have to combine in specific circumstances for a spate of copycat suicides to occur. Underlying social problems, the way people interact and the poor mental health of those involved may all play a part. "There is certainly evidence the risk of imitative behaviour after a suicide can be affected by the community response to it – if suicide is romanticised or normalised in any way it can lead to imitative behaviour," says Platt. "Studies of non-fatal suicidal behaviour (self-harming), initiatives that allow the victim to gain either extra attention or services by their action has increased rather than decreased the problem." Shortly after Bonnie McClelland's son Timothy killed himself, two of his friends followed suit. "As a parent, your heart is already shattered. But then, to look into the eyes of your friends and see the pain that your child has caused, is something you carry in your heart forever," McClelland, who lives in Tampa, Florida, said. In the year following Timothy's death there were 29 teenage suicides in her local area. "When a suicide happens, it's like a book has been taken off the library shelf. They open that book and it gives them the direction of what to do." The 16 young people who killed themselves in Bridgend came from very different backgrounds. Eighteen-year-old Dale Crole, the first suicide victim, had recently been freed from a young offenders' institution and lived with his father, with whom he was said to have a volatile relationship. Zachary Barnes, 17, had left school to work on the Amelia Trust Farm near Barry, but hoped to become a fitness instructor. Natasha Randall, also 17, who used the name sxiwildchild, studied care and childhood studies at Bridgend College. What united them, beyond individual friendships, was that they all came to see suicide as a viable solution to whatever difficulties they were experiencing. With no evidence whatsoever that these youngsters encouraged each other to commit suicide, it would be irresponsible to refer to their deaths as a pact or a cult. The personal circumstances of those involved are too disparate – and the links between them too tenuous even to refer to them as an epidemic. Yet, it is clear from the Bebo messages sent in the wake of every tragedy – many of which could be seen as normalising or glamorising suicide – how the self-inflicted deaths have impacted on the entire community. There can now be few young people in Bridgend who do not know someone who knows someone who has died; and few parents who are not frantically worried about their own teenage children's emotional well-being. It is easy to see how mounting publicity and hysteria could leave the vulnerable at greater risk of following suit. Yet, those closest to the tragedy – from parents to politicians – seem at a loss as to what is happening or how to stop it. "It's like a craze – a stupid sort of fad. They all seem to be copying each other by wanting to die," said Melanie Davies, whose son Thomas killed himself in February following the deaths of his friends, Dale and David. MP Madeleine Moon puts some of Bridgend's plight down to the insular nature of the community. "In all honesty, Bridgend is not socially deprived," she has said. "Perhaps one of the problems is young people need to raise their levels of aspiration. I've got two towns and lots of villages (in my constituency]. They are very close communities in which everyone knows everyone else. People don't like to move 500 yards to the next village because their whole identity is around the village their families grew up in. "But there is a downside. I was speaking to a group of girls recently and they were saying it could be claustrophobic. Everything that happens to you, everyone else knows about it, so it can be harder to deal with. You feel much more exposed. So, if you have a relationship break-up it's the gossip of the village. So there is pressure there." Although there is unease at the way teenagers in Bridgend used the internet to read about and comment on the suicides, most people seem to believe it is a scapegoat for more complex problems and a longstanding failure to tackle them. "I believe there is a risk from spending too much time in the alternative reality of computer games and chat rooms. I also believe that, for a vulnerable person who is contemplating suicide, the isolation of communication through words on a screen does not provide the warmth, humanity, compassion and empathy of talking to another person," admits Moon. But the MP is more concerned that despite its high suicide rate, Wales does not have a Suicide Prevention Strategy similar to those introduced in Scotland and England. While she waits for funding, Bridgend braces itself for more tragedy. On Friday, a girl called Rosie, who claims to know seven of the victims, posted a message on Stephenson's website which seemed to sum up the punch-drunk community's sense of bewilderment. "It's going crazy (here] and it's not going to stop," she said. "No one can understand what is going on. People are saying it's got something to do with the internet, but I don't believe that. But then I can't explain it either."
01/24/08
Unravelling
the suicide clusters
The self-inflicted deaths of seven young people in a south Wales town within the last 12 months has led to speculation that police might be dealing with what experts term a suicide "cluster". All the victims were young, lived in the same small area and, according to police, knew each other "as you would expect in small neighbouring communities." Cluster suicides are rare events, but when they happen they affect not just individual families, but sometimes whole localities. Fallout Bonnie McCelland, 58, has felt at first hand the devastating fallout of a "cluster" suicide. First her only son Timothy killed himself after suffering depression. A single mother without the support of a partner, she then had to face the grieving parents of two of Timothy's friends, who also killed themselves shortly after his death. "As a parent, your heart is already shattered," she said. "But then, to look into the eyes of your friends and see the pain that your child has caused, is something you carry in your heart forever." She attempts to shed light on the reasons why a young person, with their life ahead of them, might choose to follow a friend into suicide. "When a suicide happens it's like a book has been taken off the library shelf," she said. "They open that book, and it gives them the direction of what to do." Message Ms McClelland now works to raise awareness of teenage suicides in her local town near Tampa in Florida. In the year following Timothy's death, she says there were 29 teenage suicides in her local area. And her message to parents everywhere is: "Talk to your children about their feelings. "If they are depressed or are thinking about self-harm or suicide - ask questions, and be honest about the answers you give." Last week she commemorated the sixth anniversary of the death of her son "aged 17 years, six months and 11 days" . Timothy had been suffering depression - which his mother says runs in the family - from the age of 15. He was a "very bright" child with lots of friends. But he was dyslexic, and found school frustrating. An incident of self-harm and threats to kill himself led to him being sectioned twice under Florida's mental health laws. "After he burned himself on the arm that first time, I asked him why he was so sad, and he said, 'Mom, I hate my life'. I asked him what's to hate - but he couldn't verbalise it," says Ms McClelland. Roller-coaster Eventually he was suspended by his school and from then on, says his mother, it was a "roller-coaster" of emotions until one terrible day in January 2002 she opened his bedroom door and discovered his body. It was two weeks after a 15-year-old called Charles Bishop killed himself by flying a Cessna light aircraft into a Tampa skyscraper. Ms McClelland firmly believes that Timothy was inspired to follow suit. If so, it made him the first copycat suicide in a rash that eventually claimed at least four young lives. Bonnie McClelland won't go into detail about how her son killed himself. "Too many details might encourage other people," she says.
But nine days after Timothy died one of his friends killed himself "using the exact same method Timothy used," she says. "That's how I knew it was a copycat too." "What I couldn't understand is how he could have done it after he went to Timothy's service and saw how people were devastated by his death." And five weeks after that, another teenager from the same school killed himself.. Now, after six years of grieving and trying to make sense of her son's death, Ms McClelland has thrown herself into a campaign to make parents more aware of the dangers of teenage depression. Tough questions "My advice is: ask your children those difficult questions - are you depressed? Do you want to kill yourself? And if the child says yes, then ask them how they plan to do it," she says. "Anything that gets them thinking about the real consequences of their actions is good." As well as devastating families, whole communities can go into shock after a cluster of suicides. Last summer three teenagers from the same school in County Armagh, Northern Ireland, killed themselves within a month of each other. Six months later the local vicar, the Rev Brian Harper, still won't talk about the suicides. "It's too raw," he says. "We're advised that it will take at least two years for us to get over this." Comprehensive study Cluster suicides are still little understood by the experts - but the first comprehensive study is now being led by American psychologist Professor Madelyn Gould of Columbia University. She has pinpointed 53 suicide clusters around the US and is trying to find if there are common factors involved. To qualify as a cluster for her research, there must be between three and 11 victims, aged between 13 and 20. And all must have killed themselves within 12 months of the first death.
So far the clusters have thrown up few things in common - apart from having a tendency to take place in smaller communities, where people are more likely to know each other. "What we are finding is that victims of cluster suicides are usually not best friends, but they know each other, or have heard of each other," says Professor Gould. Media One disturbing factor is the role of the media. Says Professor Gould: "We are finding that the more sensational the coverage of the suicides, and the more details the media provides, then the more likely there are to be more suicides. "If the suicide victim comes to life in the newspaper article, or the reasons for dying are presented in a compelling way, then suicide can become more attractive to a vulnerable person. "It's like the first person who commits suicide becomes a sort of role model for those who come afterwards. "And if you are vulnerable and depressed then the fact that someone has gone ahead and done it might be enough to tip the balance inside your mind. "Suddenly, suicide becomes a realistic option." Professor Gould offers the same advice as Bonnie McCelland gives to the parents of potential cluster-suicide victims. "Address the issues honestly with your children. Talk to them." "If you are a community, don't close down - welcome in the professionals who might help you get through this. "And above all don't deny it is going on."
09/16/07
Walk to remember Hundreds participate in Manatee Glens' fifth annual 'Walk for Life' in memory of loved ones lost to suicide They call it the "Walk for Life."
09/15/07
Surviving Mom Works to Prevent Suicide
She was named Melissa after "sweet Melissa" in the Allman Brothers Band song. Just as the Melissa in the song casts a spell, Tarpon Springs resident Trish McGuire's Melissa also has cast a spell – over the life of McGuire, Melissa's mother. Over the years, the spell has changed moods. It started with the joy of motherhood and took an abrupt jump with Melissa's suicide at age 22. These days, the spell nudges Trish McGuire to help others – families of suicides and young people.
09/13/07
Her pain pushes her to prevent suicides
Excerpt: In 2002, Bonnie McClelland's only son, Timothy, died by suicide. In the months that followed, two of his friends also died by suicide and Bonnie lost her last surviving parent. By the end of the year, with the merriment of the holidays mixing with the sorrow of her losses, she had her own bout with depression and suicidal thoughts. "I know how it feels to stand right on the edge," says McClelland, director of the Suncoast Yellow Ribbon Suicide Prevention Program.
09/11/07
County marks suicide prevention week
07/29/07
The 'atypical' dilemma There is almost no research on the long-term effects of such powerful medications on the developing brains of children. The more that researchers learn, the less comfortable many are becoming with atypicals...
07/12/06
Suicide survivors share memories
Excerpt: MADEIRA BEACH – With a nearly full moon behind them and the sun setting on the horizon, a group of survivors of suicide – those who lost loved ones to suicide – gathered on the beach for a candlelight Evening of Remembrance July 9. As beachgoers at Archibald Park respectfully watched, Bonnie McClelland of Seminole, co-founder of the Suncoast Yellow Ribbon Suicide Prevention Program, guided the 35 survivors through an inspirational and emotional ceremony that included lighting each other’s candles and honoring the memories of the teens who died and who clearly remain a big part of the lives of family members and friends. Click here to see photos taken by guests at this event.
05/11/06
Magic show conjuring up controversy
Seminole, Florida – The TV special is called “Keith Barry: Extraordinary” and features the talents of the Irish magician and psychological illusionist. Keith Barry aims to wow and entertain, but one of the stunts contained in Friday’s show on CBS is also conjuring up some controversy. The stunt is billed as a death-defying public hanging. But people like Bonnie McClelland, whose son Tim hanged himself, find the stunt anything but amusing. Bonnie McClelland, Suncoast Yellow Ribbon: “But to allow someone to hang on TV for everybody’s entertainment…that’s not my idea of entertainment. I know what that looks like.” McClelland heads a Pinellas suicide prevention group and she fears young children may try to copy the hanging stunt and that others who suffer from depression may be pushed over the edge. Suicide prevention activists from across the country hold similar concerns. McClelland is not going to watch the program. But if people do, she urges parents to talk to their kids about the stunt she finds not magical, but macabre. Bonnie McClelland, Suncoast Yellow Ribbon: “Even as a child I knew they weren’t sawing people in half, but a hanging…that’s just over the edge.” CBS plans to air warnings with the program. The alerts advise viewers that an expert illusionist is performing the stunts and that the stunts should not be tried at home.
01/10/06
Media reports about suicide need to be more sensitive
12/24/05
How to deal with a silent epidemic
04/16/05
Look beyond psychiatry when helping our children
04/13/05
Actor lobbies against psychiatry for kids 04/12/05
Scientology in schools
04/09/05
Scientologists push for mental health statute
04/08/05
Spotting troubled students House bill would hinder alerts to parents of
mental problems
02/13/05
Mother uses grief to help others
09/28/04
Local suicide advocate attends national conference
04/21/04
Hidden Heroes: Beyond coping – suicide victim becomes life saver
06/05/03
Climbing out of hell - We could do more to help kids stay alive
09/07/02
Yellow
Ribbon Suicide Prevention Program
06/26/02
"Learn from this"
06/06/02 Vigil set for suicide survivors, families [click then scroll down to article] Times staff reports, Tampa Bay Briefs, St. Petersburg Times
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