The Association for Suicide Prevention Ghana (GASP), in collaboration with the World Health Organisation (WHO), has held a training workshop on responsible suicide reporting for media practitioners in Kumasi.

The training, the second in a series earmarked for practitioners, saw 30 journalists from the Ashanti, Bono, Bono East, and Ahafo Regions taken through the World Health Organisation’s recommended guidelines on responsible suicide reporting, nuances of suicide in Ghana, mental health and stigma, among others.

Project Lead, Prof Emmanuel Nii-Boye Quarshie, emphasised that the media is one of the most powerful influences on public perception and behaviour. He observed that suicide reporting in the media portrays stigma, which directly affects vulnerable people in society, especially young adults, children, and persons suffering from underlying mental conditions, as they are influenced by what they watch, read, or hear.

According to Dr Nii-Boye, who also doubles as President of GASP, increasing stigma around mental health remains widespread, adding that the time is ripe for journalists and media practitioners to adapt to WHO-recommended and approved guidelines for suicide reporting to improve content and public communication, not to worsen the already fragile situation.

Participants were introduced to suicide-friendly reporting terminologies, which take into consideration the sensitivity and privacy of survivors, as well as the prevention of copycat suicides, among others.

The training highlighted the need to avoid sensationalism in telling suicide-related stories while including mental health experts’ comments and helplines in every story.

Meanwhile, Professor Quarshie has appealed to movie producers and content creators to be mindful of the effects their movies and stories could have on the mental health of audiences, especially children and adolescents.

Professor Nii-Boye Quarshie is President of GASP

Professor Nii-Boye, a Senior Lecturer at the Psychology Department at the University of Ghana, admonished participants against the use of words and phrases like “commit suicide” when covering suicide-related stories, stressing that attempted suicide is no longer a crime in Ghana.

GASP, a nonprofit association, was launched in 2022 with a mission to provide empathic, evidence-informed, and culturally sensitive suicide prevention services and capacity building in systemic, prestigious ways.

It has three sitting Members of Parliament, namely Kwame Anyimadu Antwi, Bernard Ahiafor, and Francis Xavier Sosu, as life patrons. Others are renowned psychologists Professor Joseph Osafo, Professor Charity Akotiah, and Professor Kwaku Oppong Asante as life patrons.

GASP, through this collaboration with WHO, hopes to build a more informed, responsible, and supportive media environment that positively contributes to saving lives rather than unintentionally putting lives at risk