Territory without suicide

It is impossible to understand which of your friends is on the verge of suicide. But it is possible to give him a chance not to do this

When I was still studying at school, I had two friends who were called, say, Katya and Tanya. I will not say that I knew them well: both were a couple of years younger than me, and in my school years this is a whole abyss. And our schools were different. In general, I saw them infrequently, on some parties of common friends, I really did not really talk. Probably, I would not remember them at all, if not for the entire ordinary behavior of one of them. Katya was, as they said then, emo: dressed in black and pink, used black mascara abundantly, dyed her hair in colors in the range from the albino-white to the turquoise with a frequency of once every two weeks. Tanya looked much more common - a fair -haired girl of absolutely neutral appearance, a calm good. Unlike girls seemed to be friends, at least they usually appeared together.

Common acquaintances said that Katya often cries to the public and complains to everyone around, as no one understands her, and that she wants to die. They talked about this with a laugh and, as it were, between the matter - in Katin behavior a performance was felt. Even Katina, a friend Tanya sometimes chuckled at her: "Pose ...". Even after we found out that Katya cut her veins a couple of times, and she was taken by an ambulance, there was no less laughter. “I would like to really kill myself,” we said, grinning, as if they understood something in this, ”would cut along, and not across.” None of us, cynical teenagers, believed that Katya would really kill himself. None of us, cynical teenagers, believed that Katya would really kill himself Twist this quote

Typically, cynical teenagers were right, Katya did not kill themselves. Now she is doing well, she is twenty with something, and out of the corner of her ear I heard that she was studying at some institute. Sometimes I stumble upon Katya (we live in the same area): she still looks unusual and retained the passion for repainting her hair in acidic colors, but looks quite vigorous and obviously not going to the next world.

After a couple of years, when gossip about a strange-umo, who cuts her veins, already completely disappeared from my head, I accidentally met with our common friend, through whom Katya and Tanya knew. Suddenly, in the middle of a conversation, such an ordinary half-driving trep, which happens when you meet not the closest person, who was not very missing, he somehow became serious and dropped, slightly lowering his voice:

-Listen, and you are in the know? .. Tanka-that's all.
- In the sense - that's it?
- Well, that's all.

The laconic friend had in mind that on one not very wonderful day a calm, fair -haired good -haired, who did not look like her eccentric girlfriend, committed suicide. Without tantrums, warning shots into the air and ads of war, she just once took a step anywhere and forever disappeared from life. I did not know then and I don’t know now what exactly pushed Tanya to this step. Depression, family problems, unhappy love? A stranger soul is dark. Unknown. On one not very wonderful day, a calm, blonde, a good -haired worker committed suicide Twist this quote

But another is well known: Russia is one of the leading countries in the number of cases of suicide among children and adolescents. In 2013, we reached first place in Europe in this indicator. According to the Investigative Committee, in just nine months of 2014, 611 suicides were committed in Russia in Russia, and it is unlikely that the situation has triumphantly changed for the better in the year 2015. There are even more suicide attempts that always risk being “successful” and ends well usually only because of the quick acquaintances or doctors.

* * *

Regardless of whether the plan was successful to die, every teenage attempt to suicide gives rise to loneliness. A teenager is always a nervous nerve that is controlled by a frantic cocktail from complexes, rebellion and a deep misunderstanding of what the hell is inside and out of it. And this is any teenager who has grown up in a prosperous and loving family who has friends. And if he/she is an orphan? Or his/her parents drink and fight? Or him/her dubious at this age, happiness to differ sharply from peers: to be too thick or too thin, or other sexual orientation? A teenager is a bare nerve that is controlled by a frantic cocktail from complexes, rebellion and misunderstanding Twist this quote

When there is no person who will understand and support his teenage and very serious troubles next to a teenager who is experiencing his teenage and very serious troubles, who can tell about his problems, without fear of condemnation, laughter or neglect, the danger grows that he or she will step into nowhere-as my friend Tanya once made. Perhaps the fate of Tanya would have turned differently if the interlocutor would be near her vague teenage times.

Such an interlocutor who will not despise and laugh gives today's teenagers the charity fund “ Your Territory ”. Employees of the fund, professional psychologists, communicate with adolescents for free and online: through the chat on the website of "Your Territory", a page on ASK.FM and the VKontakte group. The conversation takes place on the Internet, and this is very important: it can be difficult for young people who are accustomed to social networks to call the “helpline” or, moreover, go to a psychologist at a school or clinic. To talk about your problems in anonymous chat is much easier, and the help of a psychologist from choosing this method of communication does not become less professional.

“Your Territory” appeared in 2014 as a VKontakte group, which was organized by activists of the Poison Phone of the St. Petersburg Organization of the Children's Crisis Center. Their original goal was to create a psychologically positive environment as a counterweight to depressed groups that cultivate suicide aesthetics. Gradually, the children began to turn to the administration of the group: ask questions and ask for help. A little later, the administrators launched a special site with a chat, and in the group you hung an ad: guys, here you can, without calling yourself, talk to a psychologist. The teenagers began to write in the chat, and despite the fact that the charity organization did not have any advertising, the number of requests on the site of "your territory" grew every month.

“Honestly, I myself do not know how it happened,” says Natalya Lebedeva, project manager and coach of the volunteers of “Your Territory”. “Apparently, we were found through the VKontakte group or through search queries like“ Help of adolescents ”, and then the“ mouth ”worked.”

Now about 800 appeals are entered by the site of your territory per month, that is, more than 26 appeals per day. Such a success of the project, which has no media promotion, is evidence of the high quality of the work of “your territory”. Children and adolescents who are on the verge of despair and have lost themselves are ready to speak with this organization. And the organization knows how to protect a person from suicide: there are no random people in it. Each employee of the fund is a certified psychologist who has also undergone additional training in remote counseling.

The fund is engaged in good business, but its resources, unfortunately, are extremely limited. Not enough employees or time. Applications on the site are obtained only from 15:00 to 3:00 on the hourly belt of Moscow and St. Petersburg - this means that often it is not possible to help those teenagers who live in other time zones. Due to the lack of specialists from 800 applications, consultations can only be held for 400. Half of adolescents who are on the verge of despair remains without psychological assistance. And all this happens solely due to a lack of funding.

"Your Territory" does not need global changes: the fund perfectly performs its work. The only thing that is now acutely necessary is to expand. To launch contextual and targeting advertising so that more adolescents learn about the existence of a site on the Internet where they can help them freely and efficiently. To hire more specialists, to attract and train more volunteers so that psychological assistance becomes available around the clock in any region of Russia. The fund needs money for this.

Donate any amount for the development of “your territory”, even a small one-a thousand rubles, 500, 100-and that someone, young and lost, will find the strength when there is almost no one left, there will be your merit. You will contribute to the fact that someone will not step into the void, but will remain to live. Believe me, this is a great feeling.