Dear Isaac

Great and relevant Question.

Teacher as a Change agent & mentor can win student by counselling, explaining with great examples of successful leaders who are all failures in academics.

The good and great example that immediately comes to my mind is Steve Job... His address in convocation at a great Institution be made available to the student to listen...

Thanks for asking this good question..

Dear Isaac,

you should tell him that God has created something special in every one, SO HE SHOULD SEARCH MORE IN HIMSELF.

He must understand that the winners in the life are those who get troubles and keep defeating them NOT standing before them.

You should help him to analyze reasons of the poor performance and set a plan to improve the performance and get rid of the reasons of poor performance.

You have to tell his parents not to put much expectation from him because if he cannot really do something ,he will be sad much more.

They (parents) should give him support for every step their son achieved !

For example, someone who cannot run because he has broken backbone we must not expect that he will be good runner !

Tell him that trying to do something is better than surrender like cowards and suicide ...suicide will not help in anything.

Tell him about the good examples of peoples who achieved good positions in life.

You can tell him about Oprah Whiffery , Steve Jobs , Bill Gates , Onasis , ..etc.

Finally he must pray much to God Almighty ...his faith will help him in developing himself !

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8qb09TBx_Qo

see this , it is in English

I believe that young students haven't lived long enough to realize that every crisis will pass. They think that their world and lives are destroyed by a particular event that may indeed be dreadful, but they need to be encouraged to know that ,"This, too, will pass." It takes more courage to go on in the face of adversity. It is easier to think that if they don't exist anymore that this will ease their pain. However, relief from the momentary misery and suffering is not worth trading away one's entire life and future. They just cannot see the sunshine for the tears. I would encourage them to give it some time, see a physician, pray and have faith that things WILL get better. Many young people have never had a severely negative event happen to them, and they mistakenly think "It's all over!". Tell them that learning to bend but not break is part of growth and that adversity builds strength to endure until a better day dawns. Good luck with the student.

Primary prevention: primary prevention is mainly refers to the development of individual suicide prevention.Primary prevention of major measures to manage pesticide, poison, dangerous drugs and other dangerous articles, monitoring of suicidal possible high-risk groups, active treatment at higher risk of suicide, mental illness or physical disease widely spread knowledge of mental health, improve people to cope with difficult skills.

Secondary prevention: secondary prevention mainly refers to the individual crisis intervention on the verge of suicide.Through the psychological hotline or face-to-face counseling services to help people with suicide out of trouble, dispel suicidal thoughts.

Tertiary prevention: tertiary prevention is mainly refers to take measures to prevent happen again once had attempted suicide has ever committed suicide.

It is good to see that people from all parts of the world view this as a very tragic thing. We need to call upon all means that we have to impel students to stop, think and wait before they do something that is so very sad. Their deaths are their loss and ours as well, and there is neither sense nor benefit to anyone.

Linda Pifer's earlier post about young students not having lived long enough 'to realize that every crisis will pass' is important. In addition, they are often very focused in the present.

It can be very useful to assist students to examine the past - ways they have coped with challenges before that they may have forgotten due to their current distress.

It can also be very useful to assist students to examine the future - the impact their death would have on family and friends, the finality of the act, and the missed opportunities for doing and experiencing things they value and are interested in.

Isaac, thank you for this thought provoking question and scenario.

To counsel in this area, the greater the level of detail to the exploration of the person's past and potential future the more likely it is to work.

This is really classic solution-focused brief therapy - the work of Scott Miller and colleagues is very helpful:

Miller, S. D., Hubble, M. A., & Duncan, B. L. (1996). Handbook of solution-focused brief therapy. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers.

Duncan, B. L., Miller, S. D., & Sparks, J. A. (2004). The heroic client: A revolutionary way to improve effectiveness through client-directed, outcome-informed therapy. John Wiley & Sons.

Something is needed to shock them out of their single-minded tunnel vision of disaster. Their focus must be directed outward away from themselves and their present suffering. They need the distraction of friends, family, and faculty. They need to be reassured of their value to themselves and to society. I wish we had an emotional "respirator" that would allow their feelings to "rest" and allow their state of intense distress to dissipate. Think of ways to get them out of their every day rut and into new situations. Show concern for them and ask how you can help. Tell them stories of bad situations you've been in and how you thought at the time that it was "the end", and how things ultimately worked out. Remind them that they are too young to have much experience dealing with painful, disappointing circumstances, and that they need to be patient and try hard to get through it. Faith is a strong resource in dealing with feelings of worthlessness and despair.. It may not be everyone's answer, but it has very strong merit. If people are willing to die for their faith, it is certainly strong enough to persuade young people to LIVE for it and giving them a breath of fresh air and a healthy, balanced view of the world and its disappointments. It is an immense source of strength and opens ones eyes to the purpose of existence. The Christian faith emphasizes the vital importance and value of each human being. Students should be given every option to chose their way to combat suicidal depression and every door should be opened to their needs.