By The Canadian Press

Kids Help Phone Survey Provides Startling Numbers on Teen Suicide

Sep 8, 2016 | 12:29 PM

TORONTO – A new study suggests that one in five Canadian teens has seriously considered attempting suicide in the previous year.

The survey by Kids Help Phone found that 22 per cent of more than 13-hundred respondents thought about taking their own life.

Almost half of them had also formulated a plan.

The vice-president of the national help line’s counselling services calls the results concerning.

Alisa Simon says we need to think about the conversation we should be creating in Canada about prevention opportunities and encouraging young people to talk about mental health from a young age.

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She says a key step would seem to be “breaking down the stigma and breaking down the barriers” to seeking help.

Girls appeared twice as likely to have seriously considered suicide as boys 67 per cent girls versus 33 per cent boys while almost half of the teens who had considered suicide did not speak to anyone about it.

The data also revealed that teens reporting suicidal thoughts tended to experience violence at home or at school (at 27 per cent), had concerns about body image (at 75 per cent), or addictions to drugs and alcohol (23 per cent).

These kids were at least twice as likely to seriously consider suicide compared to the general teen population.

A primary indicator seemed to be whether a teen had searched the web or social media about suicide with more than half of teens who had considered suicide (55 per cent) also searched online for information.

The Teens Talk 2016 report is based on a national online survey in May of 1,319 teens aged 13 to 18, statistically representative of age and gender across each province.