A Possible Solution to Teen Suicide

bmkain0207
Feb 4, 2019
2 min read

Did you know that teen suicide is the third leading cause of dead amongst 15 to 24 year olds? The exact time that one is beginning and finishing high school. During this time, kids should be enjoying Friday night football games, study group sessions, movie nights out, and prom; however, unwanted feelings can intrude and take over.

Depression is real, and it occurs more frequently than we expect in our teen population. With teenagers changing physically, their emotions can run wild also. Thoughts of suicide can become more prevalent after a breakup with a significant other, peer pressure to fit in, unrealistic body image standards, failing school grades, and extensive family problems.

In addition, I plan to create a phone app called LIFE...

Let

Irrational

Feelings

End

With this app, I plan to outline it with the design thinking process.

The first step is empathizing with my group of interest (teens facing depression & anxiety). I plan to personally talk with my users, having a beginners mindset, and attempt to understand how they think and feel about the issue of teen suicide. Next, I am going to use the defining mode. With this, I plan to take my research conducted, discover where the problem of teen suicide lies, its causes, and how it can be prevented. I would also like to find an innovative team where my members are passionate about this subject and determined to help me improve my project. Furthermore, I will enter the ideating mode. With this phase, I will brainstorm a wide variety of solutions. For example, in my app, I would like to provide a suicide hotline number to call and text, uplifting quotes that are posted daily, and inspiring stories of past suicide-attempt and depression survivors. In addition, the prototyping mode will allow me to physically create my app and starting building it. Any ideas I have stuck in my head about the project, I will go ahead and create! Finally, I will end off in the testing mode. I would like teenagers to become aware of the app LIFE and use it if needed; hence, creating user feedback for my team and I. This will allow our team to see where we need to make improvements and revamp.

In conclusion, I am extremely passionate about the topic of teen suicide and will always try to find a solution to the issue. While I know topics like this can be embarrassing to discuss, it is crucial for children to understand that there is help available. No one should ever feel alone or abandoned.

Just remember, always choose LIFE.

My video & another video for suicidal awareness: 1) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3BByqa7bhto

2) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G8ojIMC8BGw