'We have to start talking about it': NewZealand suicide rates hit record highThe country has second highest rate of youth suicide in the OECD and young, Maori men continue tobe disproportionately represented in statistics

Eleanor Ainge Roy in Dunedin

Monday 19 October 2015 02.31 BST

“We have to start talking about it. We would never be ashamed of our boy and we feel sostrongly that people have to wake up to what is going on in this country – it is an epidemic.”

Jane Stevens is speaking on the phone, talking about her son Nicholas Taiaroa MacphersonStevens.

The 21-year-old died in April. In hindsight, there were subtle clues. Small, strange thingsthe usually benign and peaceful Nicky said, veiled hints that he had devastating plans thatwould end his short, vibrant but tumultuous life.

“As parents we felt like we were scratching our fingernails against a plate glass windowtrying to get people to listen,” Stevens continues.

“He tried to ask for help many times, in his own way. As much as we wanted to supportNicky in every way possible we also didn’t have the level of knowledge we needed tosupport him effectively. Nobody talked about it, we weren’t and aren’t the experts.”

The bucolic Southern Alps, glacier carved fjords and lush pastoral landscape of AotearoaNew Zealand mask a dark statistic – one of the highest suicide rates in the western world.

From Bluff at the bottom of the South Island to Moerewa in the poorer North, NewZealanders are killing themselves at unprecedented rates.

This month the Office of the chief coroner released provisional suicide statistics that foundin the past year 564 people died by their own hand – the highest number of suicides sincerecords began eight years ago.

The figures – which are nearly twice the annual road toll – means New Zealand has thesecond highest rate of youth suicide in the OECD, according to data from the Ministry ofHealth.

The number of male suicides rose from 385 last year to 428 this year, and female suicidedeaths have dropped from 144 to 136. Young, Maori men continue to be disproportionately

represented, but figures for older New Zealanders have also increased, and rural farmerstaking their own lives remain high.

Chief coroner judge Marshall said the figures are “appalling”, and show despite more opendiscussion of suicide, the problem remains unnervingly stubborn.

“Over the last eight years I believe we’ve seen a shift in society’s preparedness to have amore open conversation about suicide, but we are not seeing any movement in what is anunfortunate static annual figure.”

Despite millions of dollars of government investment, national advertising campaignsurging people to ask for help, emergency crisis numbers and countless community focusedinitiatives country-wide the lives lost have kept growing.

The risk factors for suicide are largely universal – a history of mental disturbance or mentalillness, poverty, isolation and unemployment.

But Otago University academic Dr Shyamala Nada-Raja, a senior researcher at the School ofsocial and preventive medicine and an expert on suicide, believes there is a failure toaddress something unique and intrinsic to New Zealand culture – its youth as a country anda fragmented, uncertain identity.

“Have we been addressing the wrong things because are we missing the root cause,something much deeper?” she says.

“It is perhaps an existential void that we are dealing with here. Who are we as a country,who are we as a people, what is our purpose and meaning? New Zealand is a relatively newcountry, compared to Britain for example. We are still probably feeling our way throughthings and we haven’t got the right combination yet. If we get bombarded by an economicdownturn that is likely to impact us on a greater scale than some of these older countriesthat have gone through these cycles before.”

Moira Clunie, from the New Zealand Mental Health Foundation, agrees.

“We know connection to identity is a protective force. And there is a huge lack of access toa strong, cohesive cultural history in New Zealand. When Maori have access to theirlanguage, geneology, whakapapa and marae, they are really strong preventive measuresagainst mental distress and suicide.”

Maori comedian Mike King was so ashamed of the depression that had plagued him hiswhole life he didn’t ask for help until his mid 40s. Now he travels the country encouragingyoung people to do the same, and says he receives daily phone calls from people who havelost someone to suicide, or are contemplating it themselves.

“I got to 45 and I got sick and tired of being sick and tired,” says King. “I thought ‘Well I canalways kill myself tomorrow, I might as well open up and talk about what is happening andsee what happens.’”

According to Statistics New Zealand Maori account for 15% of New Zealand’s 4.5 millionpeople, but they represent more than 50% of New Zealand’s prison population, can expectto die seven years younger than non-Maori and have an unemployment rate of 12.4%,compared to 5.9% for non-Maori. From a suicide prevention framework these factors meanthey are a high-risk group, but King believes the “staunch” male Maori culture is also toblame.

“A lot of young Maori men coming into puberty are thinking about what it means to be aman and I think Maori men in particular have a skewed outlook on that,” says King.

“They believe being a man in Maori culture is to be staunch, to be the protector and theprovider and to show strength at all times. A depressive thought or a suicidal thought won’tkill you. But holding on to that thought and trying to battle through it alone, that’s thekiller. So what we need to do is create a society that makes it OK for men to talk about theirproblems.”

Dr Nada-Raja says the “staunch, hard” character profile of the New Zealand male – think SirEdmund Hillary and the mighty All Blacks – should not be unduly criticised, as it is“unique” and has “served New Zealand men well for years in a pioneering country”.

“Being strong and stoic is not a bad thing necessarily. We might not be able to reach thisgroup with our conventional way of doing things, but there are perhaps other ways to reachmen with this kind of character profile – ideas like the men’s shed.”

TV presenter and radio host Sharyn Casey has battled with depression and anxiety sinceher early teens. There were times she “considered ending it all”, but a strong family and“rock-steady” husband helped her recover, and she is now a highly successful mediapersonality.

“I was heartbroken [when I heard the statistics],” says Casey.

“It made me so sad that so many New Zealanders felt that helpless and that they felt likethey didn’t have any other choice.”

As a way of reaching out, Casey made an emotive video, which she posted on YouTube,begging New Zealanders to ask for help.

“I don’t want to read another article like this. I’ve seen firsthand how it affects people’sfamilies and I know from experience that it does get better. I’ve got to try and spread thatmessage and get people talking. If John Kirwan’s words helped me, then maybe I can helpsomeone else.”

Former All Black Sir John Kirwan, who fronts a national depression campaign and haswritten two self-help books, including best-seller All Blacks Don’t Cry, has, experts andpundits alike agree, done more to raise awareness and destigmatise mental healthproblems and suicide than just about any other New Zealander.

“I went to a mate of mine, and he said ‘harden up’,” Kirwan tells New Zealanders in a TV

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“Hardening up is not what you need to do.”

Nicky Stevens’s family are now demanding the ministry of justice and the Waikato districthealth board launch an independent inquiry into his death, and issue a formal apology.

Jane Stevens says New Zealanders are “in denial and choked in shame” about the highsuicide rate, and until a culturally anchored, whanau (family) based approach becomes thenorm, suicide figures will remain static.

“We need a much more whanau centred approach, rather than a clinical, hospital-basedapproach. Maori do not like hospitals, hospitals are very monocultural. Those kinds ofservices do not meet anyone’s cultural or spiritual needs.

“Vulnerable people need to heal, but there was nothing healing about the way Nicky wastreated. Nothing to give him hope for the future.”

• Lifeline Aotearoa can be reached in New Zealand on 0508 828 865. In the UK, theSamaritans can be contacted on 116 123. In the US, the National Suicide Prevention Hotline is1-800-273-8255. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is on 13 11 14. Hotlines inother countries can be found here.