When the news broke in July 2023 of the highest number of suicides in Singapore in twenty years, the call to action took on a greater urgency. It was thus a few months later in January 2024 that the second nationwide survey in as many years, Save.Me.Too., was created and run by Singapore Management University’s (SMU) Principal Lecturer of Statistics Rosie Ching. In just three weeks, Rosie and her 140 SMU undergraduates surveyed a whopping 5,274 local citizens around Singapore through face-to-face, telephone or digital interviews, on sensitive questions ranging from connections to suicide, perceptions, personal help-seeking preferences, support efficacy by local organisations, suicide predictability and prevention, with more than 47 variables including knowledge levels for helping a person in a crisis and myths about suicide.
With their results serving the Samaritans of Singapore (SOS), Singapore’s umbrella outfit for crisis help and suicide prevention, the most alarming finding was that together among the majority who believe the myth that raising the subject of suicide could cause a person to think about it, 8 in 10 think that when someone does talk about suicide, that person could take their life. There was an actual rise in those who believe that most suicides happen suddenly without warning and that a person dying by suicide was one who was unwilling to seek help. The silver lining came in the 90 percent who believe that suicide can be prevented. However, every two in three persons would not support someone in a crisis, with 71 percent pinning the blame on their own fear of making the suicidal person feel worse, their inadequate knowledge and consequent inability to do anything. More years of education with higher educational qualifications also exert little effect, and in fact, possess negligible correlation with greater knowledge of suicide. From 2022 to 2024, half still think the effectiveness of support in Singapore for a person facing a crisis and thinking about suicide is “not effective at all” to “lower than average”. In fact, the closer one’s association to suicide, the more ineffective they think the support is.
The results also unwrapped a very powerful sentiment amongst the thousands of respondents, representative of the Singapore population, about the need for a national suicide prevention strategy in fast-paced and achievement-oriented Singapore. When asked if Singapore needs a suicide prevention strategy, the answer was “strongly”, the Gen Z leading the pack with almost 95 percent of them agreeing. Though tainted by stigma and shame associated with suicide as pointed out by 81 percent of respondents, Save.Me.Too. brought these statistics to life to shatter the taboo of suicide and open up more mental health conversations to pave the way for action in help and intervention.
With suicide the leading cause for deaths among those in the 10-29 age group in Singapore, Save.Me.Too. resonated powerfully with Ms. Ching’s students, many of whom participated enthusiastically and even shared openly with her about their feelings and mental health challenges throughout the project which lasted three months.
Said student Claudia Chen, “The surveying experience of Save.Me.Too was unique: one of my most memorable conversations was with a cab driver, who shared how he, when working as a nurse, once persuaded a patient to get off the building parapet and brought him back to safety. Save.Me.Too has definitely encouraged discussions on suicide, which are important to reduce stigma. Wth my close and personal connections to suicide, Save.Me.Too has allowed me to meaningfully contribute in every possible way to this issue I care deeply about, and it has given me hope to play a more active role in suicide prevention in the future.”
The massive collective body of work culminated in a uniquely interactive Exhibition and Finalé of national statistical results, with a poignant three-act play following up from 2022’s Save.Me. The Save.Me.Too. Exhibition at SMU was a one-of-a-kind, decide-and choose-your-path showcase, where every guest encountered a “live” person in a crisis and responded accordingly, ultimately landing the guest in four possible scenarios, from the most dire in the tent of darkness with words of dismissal, mockery or rejection, to the most optimistic with empathy, help and hope for the person’s future. It drew SOS, SMU’s faculty and staff who brought their children, statistics students both current and senior, friends and even more guests, including mental health partners keen to learn from Save.Me.Too. The Exhibition summary video can be viewed here.
With staunch support from SMU’s Associate Provost and Director of Centre For Teaching Excellence, Professor Lieven Demeester, SOS CEO Mr Gasper Tan, and Senior Parliamentary Secretary and Member of Parliament Mr. Eric Chua, Save.Me.Too. has drawn national media coverage across all four national languages in Singapore.
Said Ms. Ching, “Save.Me.Too. has been as dark as 2022’s Save.Me. The depth of misunderstanding from many quarters has repeated itself. What we don’t measure, we can’t manage. The thick blanket of silence can asphyxiate and kill. If we continue allowing fear or stigma as our excuse, then we will never succeed in stemming the tide of suicides. And if not enough will speak to break the stigma, allowing the silence surrounding suicide to continue, the numbers will.
I dedicate this project and future runs of it to my beautiful students and the souls departed through suicide, who like us, would want anyone in crisis to be pulled from the brink. And saved.”