Teen suicide cluster hits the NSW Illawarra: ‘The ripple effect is huge’

Four teenagers have taken their own lives in the past two months in the ­Illawarra region. But community groups and police are finding way to fight back.

A teen suicide cluster has claimed four lives in the past two months in the ­Illawarra.

But local community groups and police organisations are fighting back with a string of programs, telling teens “you don’t have to be Kim Kardashian perfect”.

Last weekend an 18-year-old indigenous student at a private school in Wollongong suicided. The student was from the Northern Territory but was staying with a family in Dapto.

The school’s principal told The Sunday Telegraph “given that it is only a few days since this very tragic incident, the school and I are currently fully focused on the care of the family as well as caring for our students, staff and others impacted”.

“I am sure you will appreciate the cultural sensitivities that we want to respect and that we also want to honour the wishes of the family,” she said.

The tragedy follows the ­suicides of two students from another Wollongong school – one was a 16-year-old boy whose body was found Thursday, while the second was a 17-year-old ­female student just four weeks earlier.

A 16-year-old girl from Kiama Downs also suicided April 27.

Teens at the Lake Illawarra PCYC are getting involved in some activities put on by the police. Chief Inspector Paul Allman (left) and Senior Constable Jane Keating with local kids. Picture: Sam Ruttyn

The Illawarra Shoalhaven Suicide Prevention Collaborative, police and youth ­workers have been scrambling to offer teenagers ­support.

NSW Police Youth Command Sergeant Melissa Cooper said: “We are doing everything we possibly can to try and get through to these kids and make them realise it (suicide) is such a finality.

“The ripple effect is huge,” the Illawarra-based policewoman, who works with the local PCYC, said.

“You’re lying at home in bed, wondering if the phone’s going to ring tomorrow. And then it happens.”

The deaths follow a cluster of 14 suicides in the Kiama-Gerringong region last year, with victims ranging from a 14-year-old schoolboy to a local father.

Yellow ribbons and banners, on which people have left messages, were placed around the town of Gerringong last year. Picture: Dylan Robinson

While last year’s cluster was mainly impacting males, this year many girls have been falling victim – with ­social media and bullying playing a large role.

“They haven’t got that life experience to know that there’s life after school and you don’t have to be Kim ­Kardashian perfect,” Sergeant Cooper said.

“If there’s a bad photo ­circulating of you, it doesn’t matter … In the scheme of life, that doesn’t mean anything.

“But then they just haven’t got that life experience on their shoulders to be able to recognise and accept that.”

Since last year’s cluster, NSW Police has made the ­Illawarra the first site in the state to train PCYC workers and cops in youth mental health first aid.

Local charity Makuta has also come online, funding the Illawarra PCYC to offer free fitness and learner driver courses for local youth.

One of Makuta’s priorities was also mental health ­training throughout Kiama High School.

The Sunday Telegraph’s Can We Talk campaign compelled NSW Education Minister Sarah Mitchell to make it mandatory for teachers from public, private and Catholic schools to be taught mental health awareness as part of their on-the-job training across the state.

The campaign is also calling on Ms Mitchell to increase the number of school counsellors to one for every 500 students.

Education Minister Sarah Mitchell.

The government agreed to raise counsellor numbers in 2018 “in-principle” but didn’t follow through. The ratio remains onto every 750 student.

Ms Mitchell previously said: “Our schools have some of the best suicide support programs in the country. We take a holistic approach to our support for students. We have invested $290 million to support students’ wellbeing and mental health.”

A spokeswoman for the Illawarra Shoalhaven Suicide Prevention Collaborative said they have recently opened local health district’s Safe Haven service, created a new Suicide Prevention Outreach Team as well as co-ordinating social media campaigns “to promote help-seeking, reduce stigma and increase awareness of available supports/services”.

The have also recently opened the shelter support group, which is a “peer-led, safe and supportive space open to anyone over 18 who has struggled or is struggling with suicidal thoughts, feelings or actions”.