Suicide prevention
Suicides among young people are preventable if the right kinds of support are available to young people under stress. We support the initiatives that are being taken by the Ministry of Health to reduce the youth suicide rate.
Youth suicide statistics
New Zealand's youth suicide rates have gone down since their peak in the mid 1990s, but the rates are still high when international comparisons are made.
In 1986, 91 young people aged 15-24 died by suicide – a rate of 15.6 per 100,000.
In 1995, 156 young people died– a rate of 28.7 per 100,000.
In 2007, 94 young people died– a rate of 15.4 per 100,000.
The overall rate conceals a major difference in the suicide rate between the sexes. Young males die by suicide at almost four times the rate (31.1) than young females (8.0).
Despite the decline in youth suicide over the past decade, New Zealand still has a very high youth suicide rate when compared with similar countries.
Suicide rates among 15 - 24 year olds in comparable countries
After a suicide
The Ministry of Health has contracts with Victim Support and Clinical Advisory Services Aotearoa (CASA) to provide support to communities and individuals after a suicide has occurred. It consists of
- an Initial Response Service
- a Specialist Counselling Service
- a Community Postvention Response Service.
Where there is a cluster of suicides occurring or where there are strong indications that a cluster may form, CASA's Community Postvention Response Service provides a national consultation and advice service.
The Lowdown website
The Lowdown is an interactive website specially designed to help young people understand depression and support them through stressful times. It provides young people with access to new online, webcam- and text-based services.
A recent evaluation shows that young people’s response to The Lowdown has been extremely positive and service use has been higher than expected. For example, in the six months to 31 December 2008, 58,517 texts and 1817 emails were received and sent. The number of unique users of the text services has doubled in the last six months.
The site was recently refreshed, with a number of high-profile young sportspeople talking about their experience of depression and what they found helpful.
