Position Paper on Proposed Senate Bill 258 or the Youth Suicide Prevention Act

MentalHealthPH, a non-government organization championing the destigmatization of mental health through creating safe spaces and healthy communities, formally submits this position statement to acknowledge the intent of Senate Bill No. 258 and Senate Bill 1948, or the Youth Suicide Prevention Act” as filed under the 20th Congress. 

We recognize this legislation as an additional  measure toward strengthening the policy framework for youth mental health in the Philippines. While we support the bill’s objectives, we emphasize that its provisions must be designed to integrate and complement with the existing Republic Act No. 11036, or the Philippine Mental Health Act. Suicide is a complex public health issue that require evidence-based and holistic frameworks to be prevented.

The World Health Organization (WHO) published LIVE LIFE Framework for suicide prevention. The core components include the following: 

1. Limit Access to Means: Restricting access to lethal methods like pesticides, firearms, and medication is a key, evidence-based intervention.
2. Interact with Media: Working with media outlets to report on suicide responsibly to prevent contagion effect.
3. Life Skills in Youth: Fostering socio-emotional skills among adolescents (10–19 years) to help them cope with stress and mental health challenges.
4. Early Identification and Support: Strengthening healthcare systems to identify, assess, manage, and follow up with individuals displaying suicidal behaviors.

Further, a specific guideline, “WHO Helping Adolescent Thrive (HAT)  in helping adolescents thrive was published in 2022. This guideline enumerates cost-effective interventions for mental health to help adolescents. In the guidelines, it emphases the need to include mental health awareness training to destigmatize mental health and mental illness and skills training. With the recent remarks that crying is a sign of weakness, campaigns and awareness programs to change this narrative are imperative. 

A bill that complements the existing mental health act will ensure efficient use of resources and holistic take on suicide. 

Further, the organization observes that the current provisions of the proposed legislation lack the necessary operational strength required for implementation that moves beyond conceptual support into effective intervention. To ensure thereof, we generally propose significant refinement of the bill. In support, enclosed is our specific recommendations for consideration:

1. We particularly acknowledge the inclusion of Life Planning Education (LPE) as a proactive measure. However, for this to be a functional safety measure, Psychological First Aid (PFA) must be deeply embedded within its framework. This ensures that educators and students are not only discussing values but are also equipped with the immediate and practical skills to respond to psychological distress as it happens. We also recommend the refinement of the LPE incorporating Socio-Emotional Learning (SEL) framework. This framework will augment the LPE from just a theoretical capability development program into an operational tool, applicable for early detection. 
2. We observe that Section 4 of the proposed legislation mandates the implementation of Public Education Campaigns. The ensure the overall alignment and harmony of information campaigns across various sectors, any effort aimed at messaging about suicide should be aligned with the Department of Health’s overall social and behavioral change communication (SBCC) plans, which should implement, plan, and operationalize strategies at the national and sub-national levels. Additionally, the public education campaigns as stated under the Section 4 of the proposed legislation must be anchored with the Department of Health (DOH) existing mental health communications to ensure a unified national message. We recommend to adapt WHO LIVE LIFE and HAT Framework as the core framework for the bill to ensure holistic approach
3. We observe that Section 5 of the proposed legislation mandates peer counselling involving capacity building on basic counselling skills. From a clinical and safety perspective, this provision lacks the necessary safeguards for student volunteers. To align with the R.A. No. 11036, peer programs should focus on recognition and referral rather than analysis/diagnosis. By operationalizing peers as bridges to professional care, we ensure they support their colleagues without being burdened by clinical responsibilities they are not legally or emotionally equipped to handle.
4. We note that the capacity building and campaigns are focused on the youth. We recommend expanding the scope to parents and carers, and as prescribed by the WHO LIVE LIFE framework engagement with media practitioners for suicide reporting.
5. Nothing about us without us. For programs for the youth to be truly effective, youth should be included in the decision making spaces. We implore that it should be stipulated that representatives from the youth should be involved in the governance and management, especially in co-creating campaigns tailored for them 
6. We re-echo the guidelines from WHO HAT that in order “To strengthen the implementation of evidence-based socioemotional life skills programmes in schools, complementary areas of work can be considered, such as: 
7. Provide gatekeeper training for education staff on how to create a supportive school environment, how to recognize risk factors and warning signs of suicidal behaviour, how to provide support to distressed young people and how to refer collaboratively for additional support.
8. Facilitate a safe school environment (e.g. anti-bullying programmes, initiatives to increase social connection, staff training on creating a supportive environment).
9. Aligned with the WHO HAT guidelines, specific plans and programs to support students at risk, such as those who have previously attempted suicide, have been bereaved by suicide or are from groups at risk of suicide (e.g. because of sexual orientation or gender minority) should also be emphasized. There should be a clear policy and protocols for staff when suicide risk is identified; for communication of an attempt or suicide among staff or students; and for supporting a student to return to school following a suicide attempt.
10. Considering the rampant use and access of mobile phones and social media, there should also be emphasis on education for healthy use of the Internet and social media (e.g. safe Internet use; use of social media to build healthy social support; and recognizing and responding to unhealthy online activity such as bullying).
11. Under Section 6, we observe that the proposed legislation suggests employing psychologist on a consultancy basis with monthly check ins. This is a significant operational weakness, as mental health crises require immediate support. To ensure early intervention as put forwarded within the narratives of the proposed legislation, we recommend that instead of infrequent consultants, licensed psychologists should be hired as full-time plantilla/regular staff at the District level. This allows continuous supervision to school-based guidance counselors who respond immediately to crises rather than sporadic sessions. We also emphasize that this should be an expert in young people’s mental health and suicide prevention to ensure that the selected programmes are evidence-based.
12. The organization support the “suicide data collection system” as stated under Section 7. However, to ensure that this complements existing national health databases, the proposed data collection system must include explicit operational safeguards regarding the R.A. No. 10173 or the Data Privacy Act of 2012. This addresses the concern on harm associated with data breaches, ensuring all data is strictly anonymized while remaining useful for research purposes. However, it should be noted that it has to be harmonized with the existing efforts of the National Center for Mental Health in developing the National Suicide Surveillance data as mandated by the mental health law. Fragmented information systems would lead to underreporting and lack of standardized  collection, processing, reporting, and utilization of data. 
13. Under Section 10, we observe that the initial appropriation of 50,000,000 lacks the scale required to operationalize the bill’s mandate across all schools and other systems. We recommend that the initial funds be focused on developing the LPE training and the national data system. Subsequent funding must be significantly increased and integrated into the annual General Appropriations Act and/or align with the existing provisions of the R.A. No. 11036 to support permanent hiring of professionals and ensuring sustainability hereinafter.

We support the efforts of key legislators to prevent suicide especially among youth as this requires the whole-of society and whole-of government to be effective. We always believe that a life lost to suicide is a life too many. 

We need to act on it now.