“Suicide of children and teenagers is a present-day challenge,” the head of the psychotherapy department of KhMAPE, the scientific head of the Feldman Ecopark Centre of Psychosocial Rehabilitation Borys Mykhailov, prof. Borys Mykhailov stated during the round-table conference “Present-day influence of social networks on mental health of children and teenagers.” The expert noted that it is ineffective to struggle against these destructive tendencies with the help of prohibition and punishment.
“An important achievement of today’s round table is the development of the regional programme of positive and competitive rivalry. One of the main directions of the programme is the immersion of children and teenagers into the natural, life-asserting environment. This model has already been created and it functions for several years in the Regional Landscape Park Feldman Ecopark. We are ready to use it in order to resist the new threat, and we can provide methodical and practical assistance,” Borys Mykhailov noted.
The urgency of the meeting was proved with statistical data provided by the inspector of the department of juvenile prevention of the Main Administration of the National Police in Kharkiv oblast, major Kostiantyn Sheremet. According to his words, there were 4 cases of children’s suicide recorded during the first quarter of 2017. The total of 5-12 children’s suicides are committed during a year. According to the statistics, children and teenagers often commit suicides due to the family problems.
“But the matter is not in these figures, the matter is in the fact that more and more children and teenagers from quite successful families are subject to the negative influence and appear in the risk zone. The destructive subculture is formed, and ‘blue whales’ become popular. This creates the ground for the deviant behaviour, and consequently, for offences. One of the heaviest of them is the incitement to suicide,” Kostiantyn Sheremet noted.
It should be noted that the round-table conference “Present-day influence of social networks on mental health of children and teenagers” took place in Kharkiv on April 5. The representatives of municipal and regional authorities, specialized state institutions and expert community took part in it. They have analyzed the situation with adolescent suicides in Kharkiv region, the negative tendencies connected with the propaganda of violence in the Internet and craze for “Blue Whale” and destructive societies on social networks. As the result of the round table it was decided to develop the programme of children’s health protection in Kharkiv region based on the experience of the Regional Landscape Park Feldman Ecopark.
The event was carried out under the auspices of the International Charitable Foundation “Oleksandr Feldman Foundation,” the psychotherapy department of Kharkiv Medical Academy of Post-graduate Education under the Ministry of Health of Ukraine, and the National League of Psychotherapy, Psychosomatics and Medical Psychology.
