Does life have no value?

Page 24

The story comes out slowly, but even so, it's chilling. Her granddaughter hanged herself just before her 15th birthday. The grandmother had seen no warning.

The granddaughter was a bright girl, popular in school. Everyone loved her, particularly the grandmother who was raising her and who now misses her so much it's a struggle to go on with her own life.

The big question after a suicide is always "why?" The grandmother questions. "What is happening with our young people? Does life have no value for them?"

The current Western biomedical model pairs mental illness, particularly manic depression, with suicide attempts. This however, doesn't seem the explanation for Aboriginal youth suicide and is especially suspect in the case of the suicide epidemics that have recently hit Northern Ontario's Native communities. Twenty suicides in small rural communities in a few short months can not possibly all be explained by mental illness.

Stan Wesley, is a Northern Ontario Cree man who works with First Nations youth at risk. Brent Ramsay has taught critical incident stress management and suicide intervention skills to First Nations for 10 years.

Wesley said that everyone who mourns a suicide is plagued by the question "why?" The question is both an attempt to try to understand the event and to come to terms with the loss of the person. The survivor may never be able to understand another person's reasons for choosing to end their life. Yet, to carry on in a healthy manner, the survivor has to accept that someone they cared about has chosen to leave.

Wesley says that we must listen intently to those who attempt suicide and there are two things he hears more than anything else. One is hopelessness-the overwhelming sense that the suicidal person can't solve his or her own problems, whether serious or trivial. What counts is the sense that the person does not have what it takes to solve them. The other is grief. The individual could be grieving over anything, the loss of a relationship or the death of a relative or friend.

Professor Colin Tatz, who studied Aboriginal youth suicide in Australia, says that with funerals occurring regularly, little or no grief counseling and no traditional mourning ritual, the Aboriginal life is one of prolonged grief. He also mentions existential suicide, resulting from the sense that there is no meaning or purpose to life.

The question of utmost importance is, how does society equip Aboriginal young people with the tools they need to feel confident about solving problems, to handle a constant onslaught of loss and to create lives rich in meaning and purpose?

Brent Ramsay emphasizes the importance of community-driven team approaches to assisting youth at risk. As a result of his experience in both urban and rural First Nation communities Brent says, "We see that the motivation and willingness [to help] is always present in the communities; it is a matter of training and confidence. Most of all, the work in this area can be done internally by the community and its existing resources."

Once community members have received training in critical incident stress management and suicide intervention they can use this knowledge to organize their own suicide prevention and intervention programs.

Developing and nurturing a strong connection to traditional First Nation culture is also valuable in preventing Aboriginal youth suicide.

A Northern Saskatchewan Cree man told of the numerous suicide threats and attempts he watched his parents make before they were finally successful. At first this man nursed his grief with drugs and alcohol and considered following in his parents' footsteps. It was only when he began visiting Elders, smudging, attending sweats and learning his language that he regained his will to live.