Nigerian Youths Magazine on Wattpad

💬📝Interactive Session with Okoni God'spower on Suicide 📝💬

Today we will be having with us Okoni God'spower John Micaiah. We schooled together, are friends, currently studying Medicine and Surgery in the University of Abuja and he's a major frontier in the 'Let's Talk Health' forum. A platform where Health Issues are discussed, Disturbing after effects of stress and solutions are proffered. It's really a lovely movement. This month is their suicide month and in the spirit of campaign, we invited him over to enlighten us on Suicide. Thanks for joining us GP

So this is just peripheral knowledge of you, please tell us a little about yourself.

Well, I must say, you've done a good job already.
I'm simply just a youth trying to make a change in my society and the world at large. I believe the time to sit back and watch is over, it's time to take action and help ourselves make the world a better place.

A great concern is on the issue of today, 'Suicide.' Introduce us a briefly to what Suicide really is.

Suicide is the act of taking one's life or ending your own life. It is sometimes a way people end their pain, shame or suffering.

A lot of youths see suicide as an escape... Probably from a lot of stress in the world or discrimination or body shaming, suffering... Why do you think someone will see ending one's life as a relief?

You actually covered a little bit of it in the question there.
It is not easy going through everyday wishing you could do something about a situation you have no control over.
Like the example if body shaming, the individual wakes up every morning, looks in the mirror and remembers the ill words uttered by people about their body, they go out and even though people don't say anything, the judging looks and whispers give it away. After a while, they'd start to feel like it would be a lot easier for them and the world if they were not in it, if not addressed, it would result into suicide because that is the only way the individual sees to find rest/relief.

I learnt from the LTH a while ago, that Suicide starts from the preconception of it. You've already commuted suicide by mere planning to do it. What can you say on this?

Every single action is birth from the mind, it's like a drawing board. Before we started this conversation, you perceived or pictured what you want and then put it into action.
Suicide is no exemption, it is a product of thoughts and imagination driven by pain/loss of hope.

The whole LTH idea was a great one. Congrats on being on air at one point last week... More heights... What was the idea behind it?

Thank you so much.
Let's talk health (LTH) is a mental health initiative that aims at bridging the gaps in mental health care.
It is the brain child of Ogbu God'sgift and he brought on board the co-founders, basically a group of friends with similar views and ideas.
During the school session just before the pandemic, we discovered that we all are going through several issues but they have remained hidden and no solutions provided simply because we choose not to talk about them. I think is a basic instincts of most people that if you ignore it, it just might go away, well, it didn't go away. We discovered that even if we didn't receive immediate solution, simply hearing someone else's view on the issues or better yet seeing someone else going through something similar erases the feeling of loneliness and that's the first step towards solution.
This restructured the way we saw health care and opened our eyes to the lack of mental health care and that led to the creation of Let's talk health initiative.

I believe the story about a guy drinking sniper in my school went viral. Basic knowledge about him was that he was an A student... First class student in the department of English and Literary studies if I am not mistaken and always wrote dark poems. Until he died before people saw meanings to the poems. What do you think people should look out for as the signs to preconceived suicide?

All suicides are preconceived and this was no exemption, it's a really sad thing to see someone die by suicide.
The dark poems were an undeniable pointer but before then, there are some signs than one could look out for before it gets to the stage of declaration of the intension (suicide)
Fortunately or unfortunately, most of these signs can only be observed by a family member or a close friend.

Some of which includes:

Deep/painful complains: Among other, this is usually one of the first signs leading to a suicide attempt, the individual starts to complain bitterly about issues plaguing  their lives, issues they cannot handle.

Suicide affirmations: They start talking about the act, this is the major thought stage as they start looking at suicide as an escape route or the only possible solution.

Withdrawal: This stage could be confusing because here they usually pretend to be either busy with something or have little or no time for activities, normal activities that they do regularly.

Late into the withdrawal stage, they start leaving clues about their departure. You start hearing stuff like; what would you do if you wake up tomorrow and I'm gone or take care of my family for me. Statements like that proceeding the above signs are an indicator that your friend/family member is about to attempt suicide.

If not addressed/handle, the next thing that happens is you'd see a note but by then it'd be too late.

Can there be an addiction to suicide? You know... Could this be a crave?

In truth, no.
The problem is some people could fake mental health issues and suicide attempts just for sympathy or attention or pity but that's out of our discussion.

Truthfully, after the number of people I've talked to and seeing people consider suicide as an option out of issues, I can affirmatively say that no one craves or long after suicide.
It comes from pain and loss of hope for a solution.

There are sometimes people have a mix up better drug abuse, addiction and overdose with suicide.
For the purpose is clarity, people who overdose from drug abuse don't actually have the intention of killing themselves, their bodies couldn't just get to the lengths they were trying to stretch it to in the pursuit of euphoria but drug abuse as a method of dying by suicide is a planned act built from pain and stress with the aim of death.

Please what are the final words of advice from you to all our youths?

Final words of advice to the youths out there.

Fellow great (young🌚) men and women. It's not a thing of shame to feel stressed out or to feel pained. We don't feel each other's pains but trust me when I say this, we understand you, you're not alone and we see you. You just have to speak so we can hear you, keep pushing, live, don't just survive. We can get through anything together. You matter💚

Oya Halla Watt's up Naija! To my dearest friends that would be reading this.

Watt's up Naija🗣️🗣️

__Gaddame🤟🏾🤟🏾™_
Or that's not how it's done😬🤭😂

Don't worry that's how it is done. Gaddame! 😂 I know you are not on Wattpad... Can you drop any social media handle you are comfortable sharing so people can reach you?

You can reach us on
letstalkhealthnow on IG
_letstalkhealth on Twitter

And you can also send us a mail at now.letstalkhealth@gmail.com

Thank you so much for joining us

Thank you for having me🤗
Once again, it's

Micaiah God'spower AJ
Letstalkhealth💚

You heard it from him, You matter 💚 Never think otherwise because of what people say about you. The Bible says that people look at the outside, but God judges from the heart. Embrace what you are... People can't make fun with what you've come to terms with.

If you know anyone who is suicidal, please do well to reach the LTH using those social media handles that were provided.

Once again, you matter 💚