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CCNTV6
  • 1 year ago
The Children's Authority is urging parents to pay close attention to their children and monitor their behaviour.


This call comes in the aftermath of the suicide of a 15-year-old Jayden Lalchan, a fourth form student of St Stephen’s College, Princes Town.

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00:00While data compiled by the Children's Authority point to an acute problem of children being bullied in schools,
00:06the authority says that there's a need to change behaviors and the mindsets to have a society that is proactive in
00:12ensuring that all children are protected, especially within learning institutions.
00:18Psychologists at the authority, Dr. Krista Ali, spoke with us on Morning Edition.
00:23Dr. Ali said, when it comes to bullying, many children are suffering in silence to the extent that they don't feel safe
00:30to confide in an adult.
00:31She noted that bullying has changed over the years from a physical to a more
00:36psychological form and the impact it has on young people are of great concern.
00:42How it looks now is it's really
00:44psychological. Quite often it's verbal. It's things that we say to children. It's the platforms that we use because now social media is
00:52such a prevalent tool that can be used and this is called cyberbullying, of course.
00:57But this is one of the things that we were primarily seeing as ways that bullies target their subjects.
01:05Dr. Ali said, there are several warning signs a child displays when he or she is being bullied and
01:11recognizing those warning signs is
01:13important.
01:14Tummy aches, headaches, they're not feeling well.
01:17They're always finding some sort of excuse to not go into school because what they're experiencing is literal fear.
01:25And that's how it manifests in our children quite often.
01:29They are traumatized by these situations and they don't know they're always hyper vigilant.
01:34They're on high alert because this face is not safe.
01:37She said children who experience bullying can fall into depression which can lead to suicidal thoughts.
01:43When thoughts of hopelessness start setting in, this is where we start getting thoughts of suicide and death.
01:49What a lot of people don't understand is that thoughts of suicide is quite often as a result of underlying mental health concerns.
01:57Quite often depression in our children or a symptom of post-traumatic stress.
02:02She urged the parents to pay more attention to their children.
02:06Charlotte Kisto, TV6 News.
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