Student’s organize walkout to bring awareness about suicide

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The city of Woodstock has lost five teenagers to suicide since February. The Canadian Mental Health Association is calling it a “suicide contagion.” Today hundreds of high school students in the community held a huge walkout to call attention to the crisis and demand change.

Jada Downing lost her sister, 17, to suicide last month and says “The most recent suicide was my step sister and best friend, so I feel that I need to help people. I need their voices to be heard. Jada walked out of class today because she felt that if her sister Kristi received the help that she needed, she would still be here today.

Melissa Bailey lost her 16 year old sister, Amanda to suicide in February. “She really struggled with depression and anxiety. She was on medication but sometimes not every medication works for every person. So she had a long fight with that.” Ron Bailey, father of Amanda, says “She’d been getting help but again there isn’t a lot of local help to be had. Unfortunately we’re not able to help her anymore, so we’re trying to have or give her a voice to these kids who are still here.”

Mackenzie Gall is one of the students who organized today’s walkout. She says she felt they needed to do something to draw more attention to the issue of teen suicide and help combat one of the contributing factors: bullying. Students are hoping that today’s walkout will send a powerful message to both the school boards and the Canadian Mental Health Association that more needs to be done to prevent teen suicide.

According to the Canadian Mental Health Association youth suicide remains the second leading cause of death for young people between the ages of 10 and 25 in Ontario. They say that if you or someone you know is struggling with mental issues, you need to tell someone. And if someone you know is having suicidal thoughts or threatening suicide, don’t leave them alone