As suicide cases continue to rise in the country due to various social and economic reasons, Ticia Counseling Centre in partnership with New Dawn School has awarded certificates to 104 students who have completed a course in Counseling and psychotherapy.

Speaking during a colorful graduation ceremony which took place on Thursday in Blantyre Ticia Counseling Centre Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Patricia Singini challenged the new graduates to help in reducing cases of suicide in the country.

Singini attributed the high number of suicide cases to lack of interventions such a psycho-social therapy among some.

In her remarks, a representative of Blantyre District health office (DHO) Modesta Mwagomba applauded Ticia counseling for complimenting the government efforts.

The Counseling and Psychotherapy graduates were drawn from Blantyre, Lilongwe and Mzuzu campuses respectively.

In August this year, Malawi police said 208 people had committed suicide from January to August this year as compared to 160 cases that were recorded during the same period last year. This is an average of 26 people committing suicide each passing month.

According to Southern Africa Litigation Centre website, Suicide from impulsive life stresses is often connected with social and cultural factors such as debt and romantic relationship breakdown.

Southern Africa Litigation Centre further said, extreme poverty destabilizes lives, crushes self-esteem, and creates despair which can lead to self-harm.

Other factors contributing to such high suicide rates in the country include a lack of interventions such as psycho-social therapy, poor coping skills and cultural upbringing, as the Malawian culture does not allow men to be vulnerable and express emotional weakness during difficult times, unlike women; like most African cultures.

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