Though rates in Canada have declined since the early 1980s, it is still the second-leading cause of death among teenagers, after car accidents. Teenage suicide remains a maddening enigma.
This seemingly random scattering of loss points to the complexity of suicide, which is not confined to a "type" or any particular circumstances.īy the time the suicide of 14-year-old Daron Richardson, the daughter of Ottawa Senators assistant coach Luke Richardson, made headlines in November, communities were scrambling to prevent more deaths, without really knowing how. None of them knew each other, at least not well. The victims were mostly young men, some in their early 20s, current and former students. At least two more suicides followed last September. In June last year, six young people died at their own hands in small towns southwest of the capital – stoic, old-fashioned places where most parents still worry far more about kids driving home in the dark from bush parties than about problems like depression or anxiety. In Ottawa and the surrounding rural area, a shocking number of families are still trying to understand why their children made similarly terrible choices and what they could have done to prevent it. What was he thinking?" Mindy says, her voice straining. 24, 2010, Ben circled back to the house, went out to a shed beside the house and took his own life with his great-grandfather's antique gun. They thought it was the right choice then. So they moved into a rambling farmhouse in Ashton, bought a flock of chickens and took solace on the rare days when they heard Ben whistling or saw him with his new cat, Gray, draped like a stole around his neck. Unlike his older sister, Ben wasn't a Starbucks kid perhaps he would be happier in open spaces where he could ride his motorcycle on the dirt roads, see the stars at night and start fresh in a new school.
Read part two here and part three here and part four here.Ī year ago today, Gary and Mindy Nelson went to work, believing that their 16-year-old son, Ben, was going to catch the school bus.įour months earlier, the family had moved to the country from Ottawa, hoping to draw Ben away from his "dark thoughts," as he called them. Amid their pain, victims' families are defying stigma and bringing the issue to light as never before.
#Teen suicide band car sticker series
This week, The Globe and Mail presents a special series confronting an agonizing enigma. Suicide is the second leading cause of death among teenagers in Canada, and the start of school is a particularly high-risk time for vulnerable youth.
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