Minister urges teens to share problems

That was the heartfelt but stark message issued specially to the many young people in attendance at the funeral, last week, of 17-year-old Dean Johnston, who died having taken his own life. Speaking to the packed gathering of mourners at Dean's funeral on Friday, Rev Alan Irwin, from St. Patrick's Church of Ireland, made a special appeal to the young people in his midst. He said: "We seldom are able to fully grasp the impact that tragedies such as a suicide can have on others, the deep felt shock, the anger, and the feelings of helplessness and even guilt. "The recent death of a 17 year old student can very easily throw an entire community into an overwhelming feeling of grief as parents begin to think that this could have been their child and fellow students and friends find themselves stunned by the loss of a colleague. "Are we in danger as a society, as a community of turning a blind eye to the peer pressure that many of our young people are experiencing? There are the pressures to experiment with new things, that first drink or "try this it will make you feel good" – all this can inevitably lead to difficulties later in life. Yet suicide is not limited to particular walks of life nor is age a barrier either," said Rev Irwin. "One thing that we are sure of is the continuous wave after wave of unanswerable questions that follow a death by suicide, the turmoil and anguish felt by family and friends at the loss of life. There is the endless piecing together of the final pieces of the jigsaw, playing over those last few hours wondering deep down what has been missed? Yet the realisation of such thinking can leave families, friends and communities suspended in a sea of sadness and regret," he told the gathering. "Today, if you are feeling that your present struggles, whether they are to do with relationships, an addiction, illness or financial problems - whatever they might be - and you are considering that death is easier than living - then don't. "I appeal to you to think again, talk to someone, if not immediate family or friends, then to a colleague, a teacher, your minister or pastor or to the Samaritans or staff within the Hope centre. "A problem shared is a problem halved," he said. "Don't allow the actions or comments of others to influence you down a path that will leave your family and friends to pick up the pieces," said Rev Irwin who also urged young people to be aware of the dangers of "modern means of communcation and information", not least social networking sites some of which may, he warned, contain "comments that might suggest that the way of suicide has its attractions". "There is more to life - even if for now it may not appear that way," he added.