The blind side of parents

The trend of child suicides in recent times have raised a red flag for at least one child and family therapist, Dr. Beverly Scott, following the death of 11-year-old Natalia Morgan by suicide at McQuarrie District in Hanover.

“When a child sees suicide as the only way out something is seriously wrong with their support system whether at home or at school,” explained Dr. Scott explained.

She added that physical, emotional, verbal or sexual abuses are some of the reasons behind a child wanting to commit suicide, and there are warning signs that a child may be suicidal.

“We have what are called suicide gestures were a child may say things like ‘I feel like nobody cares about me’ or ‘I want to go to a place where no-one can find me’ that parents can use an indication that something is wrong,” the child and family therapist said.

Natalia’s relatives reportedly found her body about 9:45 a.m. hanging by a piece of cloth from a breadfruit tree at her home. Her body was removed and taken to the Cornwall Regional Hospital.

An emotional Noel Morgan revealed that her daughter exhibited no warnings.

“If I saw any form of signs that she would do this I would have tried to help,” he said.

Mr. Morgan recalled trying to administer CPR to Natalia in a desperate attempt to save her life. He noted that in spite of the poor relationship young Natalia had with her mother, he tried to provide parental strength for her.

Dr. Scott says there is a rare condition known as “untreated deep-seated emotional crisis” where someone may not show the usual suicidal signs and as such, the therapist issued an appeal to parents to extend more love and support for their children.

“The entire school community is saddened by the news of her death, teachers and students were crying so our two guidance counselors had to intervene to provide counseling and emotional support. A team from the crisis management department out of the Ministry of Education also came to offer counseling,” said Brendalee Ellis, principal of the Bethel Primary and Junior High School in Hanover where Natalia was a student.

“Natalia and I were very close because her father was a single parent (and) the school pays special attention to those situations. She was an avid reader who did well academically and she had a good attendance record but she was a quite student who never got into trouble for misbehaving.”