Suicide is preventable
Loveness Nleya
Digital Skills Consultant I Digital Wellness & Safety I Digital Solutions Tech Advisor I Digital Transformation I Digitalisation I Digital Entrepreneurship I Digital Solutions 4 MSMEs I Techpreneur I CSC2023 Alumni
TRIGGER WARNING...
Since 2021 I have openly advocating for good mental wellbeing & wellness and also suicide prevention awareness. May is set aside for Mental Health Awareness and September is for Suicide Prevention Awareness. They are close to my heart in ways I cannot explain. The thought of a human being experiencing anguish and pain where you cannot bandage or treat with medication is heartbreaking to me. We live in a connected world with many lonely people, doing all they can sometimes to seem fine.
I wasn't able to do my usual campaigns and interactions this month but it was an introspective month in terms of good mental health and wellbeing. In Zimbabwe you now need mental tenacity more than ever to step outside the house get into the road to go where ever you are going and arrive still calm and happy if you woke up that way. The stressors are ever present - the driving, pot holes etc. We need to talk about cultivating good mental health so that suicide become preventable.
It needs to be like bathing. Building a daily routine and support systems to hold up when you face the life changing and transforming circumstances. It needs to happen from young ages. Our children need to have resilience, We got it from playing outside which toughened us up, now with the tech-generation and people with malicious intent out there, children are kept indoors and so that mental resilience needs to be cultivated.
Bad, bad, bad times will come but how you respond to them matters. It will be very hard to all of a sudden successfully navigate those situations when you have not been building yourself up. It becomes hard to see light at the any point of the tunnel - during some situations the tunnel has no direction or an end or small cracks that bring in some light.
The ability to aggressively control what your mind thinks and not allow it to just think anything is a skill that can be mastered. The same way you will watch what you eat to have a healthy body is the same way you need to watch what your mind feeds on. Expecting a malnourished to suddenly take challenges head on, is like expecting a baby to properly carry a 5kg bag of anything.
As I write this, I also celebrate and remember with fondness a woman who from the first day I meant was as warm as a much needed blankie on a cold night... the late larger than life, Dr Nyari. She encouraged me so much, was my first Naturopathic Doctor and she would say what do you want us to do. She accepted my first interview and I was guashing, couldn't believe it was me doing this.
Watch the interview here: https://www.facebook.com/lovenessnleya/videos/1490816751282429
Talking about suicide can be done with care and in a way that does not cause suicide contagion or copycat suicide or suicide ideation in vulnerable people. This also calls for responsible reporting or sharing of information where death by suicide has happened.
Be aware of what you are thinking at any point, thoughts or imaginations no matter how fleeting of committing suicide are red flags. Do not allow them to grow and fester. Seek counsel. Just in this week I read about two promising professionals who died by suicide because of toxic work environments and over working. It's time to make stress management, employee empowerment and employee welfare part of the our curriculum.
领英推荐
During COVID I was a social media manager for a Medical Centre and during my content creation process I discovered the World Health Organization illustrated resource for stress management.
Download the resource here and also read on it:
WHO also has an informative article on stress from their Newsroom Q&A:
I have said all this to say that let's talk. Let's deal with the issues in our lives in a healthy manner because no one is exempt. It's about how you respond to what you are going through.
Read more about the consequences of leaving things undealt with:
#SuicideIsPreventable #SuicidePreventionAwarenessMonth #ThriveWellness #MentalHealth #LovenessNleya
Principal Psychologist at Potentialz Unlimited
1 个月Some of the latest updates on Suicide Prevention are covered in my post. https://www.dhirubhai.net/posts/gurprit-ganda-sydney_%F0%9D%90%82%F0%9D%90%9A%F0%9D%90%A7-%F0%9D%90%8F%F0%9D%90%AC%F0%9D%90%B2%F0%9D%90%9C%F0%9D%90%A1%F0%9D%90%A8%F0%9D%90%AD%F0%9D%90%A1%F0%9D%90%9E%F0%9D%90%AB%F0%9D%90%9A%F0%9D%90%A9%F0%9D%90%B2-%F0%9D%90%87%F0%9D%90%9E%F0%9D%90%A5%F0%9D%90%A9-activity-7244902869882077186-n5aP?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop
Academic Officer // Training Coordinator// ISO Certified Internal Auditor /Human Resources
1 个月Thank you
Driving Advanced Analytics & Automation at Oil & Gas Industry & Telecom Sector | xPTCL & Ufone (e& UAE) | Python, R, PowerBI, SQL, DWH & Tableau | Data Science - Machine Learning - Continuous Auditing
1 个月This message emphasizes the importance of ongoing conversations about mental health, encouraging proactive support and awareness every day.