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“When one voice is silenced, a whole community loses its song,” Archbishop Desmond Tutu

by | Sep 10, 2025 | Mental Health Calendar

“When one voice is silenced, a whole community loses its song,” Archbishop Desmond Tutu.

This article is intended to contribute towards 2025 World Suicide Prevention initiatives, which aim to raise awareness and provide support to members of our diverse communities. It is intentionally written in plain language, in an attempt to make knowledge more accessible.  Our call to action is that readers share and discuss with those within their care. We all have a role to play in building safe spaces.

Feel free to discuss with your trusted healthcare professional if you notice any of the risk factors listed, to seek help for yourself or loved ones. We have also shared a few contact details of some of the toll-free call centers where you may get help, in the event that you find yourself in a dark place, wanting to end your suffering by taking your life or harming yourself or others.

Authors: South African Society of Clinical Psychology (SASCP), a Division of PsySSA.
Access to Care Sub-Committee Contributors: Bridgette Dlanjwa, Mariam Salie, Thabang Tlaka, Barry Viljoen and Kgomotso Sekhute

About World Suicide Prevention (2024-2026)

The theme for World Suicide Prevention for 2024-2026 is “Changing the narrative on suicide”. (Source: World Suicide Prevention Day 2025).

With the rising levels of suicide attempts and suicides among our youth and young adults and adults, we believe it is critical to put heads together and share knowledge with our communities, as broadly as possible.

What do we know about risk factors that may lead to suicide?

Suicide does not emerge from a single cause. Rather, it reflects a complex interplay of psychological, social, and environmental vulnerabilities that, when left unaddressed, can overwhelm an individual’s ability to cope.

  1. Unresolved trauma and violence are often at the heart of deep psychological pain. Survivors of childhood abuse, gender-based violence, or ongoing traumatic experiences may struggle with psychological conditions such as Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), which in turn may heighten vulnerability to suicidal thoughts (Richardson, 2024).
  2. Similarly, the experience of loss, whether of a loved one, employment, health, or even a sense of dignity, can disrupt one’s sense of stability and belonging, leaving individuals feeling adrift and hopeless (WHO, 2023).
  3. Experiencing bullying can become an unbearable burden for the majority of people. Whether it happens in classrooms, on playgrounds, in the workplace, or in digital spaces through cyberbullying. The shame and isolation may erode self-worth and increase suicidal risk.
  4. Mental health conditions, such as recurrent depressive episodes and other mood conditions (e.g. bipolar disorder, which in simple language, is associated with fluctuations in moods), are well-established risk factors (Carballo et al, 2020). These conditions, when left untreated or misunderstood, may deepen feelings of despair and disconnection.
  5. Socio-economic challenges such as unemployment, poverty, or the inability to provide for one’s family weigh heavily in the South African context, where financial stress is a daily reality for many. This burden of responsibility may result in feelings of worthlessness and helplessness, which may perpetuate suicidal thoughts.
  6. Loneliness and isolation also carry profound risk. It is not only about being alone, but about feeling unseen or disconnected, even in the presence of others. Deep isolation may cause a person to believe their pain is invisible or that their lives do not matter (McCallum, 2022).
  7. The absence of psycho-social support and limited access to primary mental healthcare services, particularly in rural areas, means that many who struggle silently are unable to receive professional help (Canbaz & Terzi, 2018).
  8. Substance use further complicates the picture. Substances have the ability to cloud judgment, lower inhibitions, and even induce psychosis in some cases, which dramatically increases the risk of impulsive suicide attempts (Carballo et al, 2020).
  9. Chronic medical conditions, such as debilitating pain or illness that negatively impacts one’s quality of life, also place individuals at higher risk, particularly when one believes they are a burden to others (WHO, 2023).

Understanding these risks is not about creating fear, but rather about equipping us all with the knowledge to respond differently. If we notice these warning signs in ourselves or in others, the most powerful first step is to reach out to a trusted family member, a teacher, a healthcare professional, or one of the support lines listed below. Together, by breaking the silence and responding with compassion, we can reduce the weight of these risk factors and offer hope where there is despair.

Changing the narrative around suicide requires a range of daily acts of mindfulness, which enable us to:

  1. Observe and listen without judgement.
  2. Find practical ways of making it normal to discuss a range of topics within family and school settings such as fears, feelings, thoughts, disappointments, without fear of judgement and rejection.
  3. Proactively challenge unconscious bias and the stigma associated with mental health conditions.
  4. Create safe spaces to discuss disheartening issues even when not fully understood.
  5. Choose the thoughts, words and actions towards those who find themselves in dark places, who are thinking about suicide or have attempted to end their lives.
  6. Create and leverage the power of community support systems, within our high-pressured contexts where adults, parents, caregivers and grandparents do not always have the resources to adequately support young ones with mental health challenges such as anxiety and depression.

How can we all get involved in proactive suicide prevention?

  1. Challenging unconscious bias: For example, systemic socio-cultural perceptions, beliefs and biases that perpetuate stigma and discrimination against persons with mental health conditions.
  2. Creating safe spaces in homes: Daily acts of compassion (e.g. making it the norm for families to talk about both the good, tough and troubling elements of their days with young ones, to role model that it is normal not to be okay from time to time. This also helps with reinforcing that families are there to support one another with unconditional love and compassion. Research shows that families that spend regular time engaging in conversations with their young ones or a range of topics, create safe spaces for the young persons to be able to discuss anything they find uncomfortable, stressful or traumatic with the adults in their lives (Source: Robyn Fivuch, Ph.D.). Multiple cultural groups across the world, that have similar practices (e.g. story telling with parents and grandparents or caregivers, family meal sharing times (where circumstances allow), family meetings where everyone irrespective of age gets a turn to speak and share their thoughts and ask questions, have provided rich data in support of human connections as a critical pillar of resilience.
  3. Creating safe spaces in communities: “It takes a village to raise a child.” This African, Igbo phrase especially applies to child headed homes. It is essential to find creative ways of building psycho-social networks, comprising of professionals and trusted community members to check in on the young ones regularly and serve as their guides, mentors and pillars of emotional support.
  4. Creating safe spaces in schools: Examples include zero tolerance policies and relevant legislation to root out abuse and bullying and group therapy sessions, facilitated by professionals.
  5. Advocacy work for suicide prevention: Legislation, policies, psycho-social interventions provided through Public-Private-Partnerships (i.e. community based organisations, NGOs, private companies and government departments as strategic partners).
  6. Leveraging technology for teen safety: Without promoting any specific Application (APPs), it is safe to say that a variety of APPs are available for parents to choose from, to protect young ones online and flag when they show risks of suicide attempts).
  7. Parenting Support Groups: To learn from one another, share experiences and coping mechanisms to confidently support their young ones who struggle with mental health conditions or other challenges that may predispose them to suicidal ideations or attempts.

Relevant South African Life-Lines

  • A trusted family member or teacher or place of worship leader:

Family members may choose these ahead of crises moments and share them with young ones within the home.