Here at 7News, we don't usually report on cases of suicide - but, tonight, there is concern after of them were reported in just 12 hours yesterday - all coming on the eve of World Suicide Prevention Day.
Last night one of our top stories was about a BDF soldier who had apparently taken his own life - that's after he tried to stab his girlfriend and their child. His was the third suicide in Stann Creek in a month.
But, there were also two other reports of persons who took their own lives.
The third suicide happened in Rockstone Pond village in the Belize District - and it brings into focus how unpredictable these situations can be - which is why we have spoken to a counselor to put tonight's coverage in context.
The victim was 18-year-old Jose Guevara. He was at home speaking to his family, before excusing himself to go to the bathroom. When he didn't come back out, his family went to check on him, and that's when they found his body.
Today, Courtney Menzies visited his home village of Rockstone Pond. Here is her story.
Jose Guevara just celebrated his 18th birthday last Friday, and he was awaiting the results of the amnesty program he applied for. But before he could become nationalized, he was found dead in his bathroom.
Guevara apparently took his own life last night, sometime around 7:00. Today, the chairman of his village, who knew him well, said that when he got the call, he couldn't believe it.
Errol Audinett, Chairman, Rockstone Pond Village
"The boss of Muncho, because we affectionately known him as Muncho, his real name is Jose Guevara, and he called me and told me if I heard the news about Muncho, he caught in an accident. So I want like, what? I said, I'll reach out to a neighbor down by where he lives and see if I could get in touch and go and look at the place and see what happened to him. Then in that process of going through my contacts of calling someone for his location, the same boss called me back and told me, he said boss, the mother just called me and said they found Muncho hanging in the bathroom."
"It's a really sad situation because Rockstone Pond is a very small community, very peaceful and tranquil and to hear like stuff like this happening is very heart wrenching because everyone around here is very familiar with one another. [sigh]"
And he rushed over to Guevara's house and saw the devastating sight for himself. He explained that what was most shocking was that, to him, Guevara didn't show signs of being suicidal.
Errol Audinett, Chairman, Rockstone Pond Village
"I froze because personally I knew the guy because I own a shop in the village and he was a very gentle soul, he used to come and get stuff from me and paid me on Saturday when he collects. And he never had no problem with no one, everyone who knows Muncho would see the first thing would be a big smile on his face. So it really hurt. It not only hurt me, it hurt everyone that was familiar with him, everyone that got in contact with him."
"He was kind, he was humble, he was hardworking because he worked at the sawmill everyday from 7 till 4, that's from Monday to Saturday."
"The feeling in the village right now is that everyone is sad, everyone is down because everyone heard the news they said, it can't be Muncho, because at the end of the day, like what I said, Muncho is someone who always had a big smile on his face. You ask him to do you a favor, you ask him to do anything, he always has a willing hand to assist. So it's really sad right now in the village. Everyone that knows Muncho right now is suffering deeply. And from my point of view, I wish I would have… I don't know if I could have prevented it or what but from my point of view, I wish he could have opened up to someone, or even me. Because here when he comes off work, he would get a few stuff then he would go on the wifi, because I have wifi here, anyone that comes around I give him my internet password. So he would come on the internet and do a little scrolling, he loved to watch TikTok and I wish in those moment, he would have opened up and tell someone how he feels, I think it would have been different."
But one councillor says that sometimes the signs aren't so visible:
Christa Courtenay, Councillor & Managing Dir., Monarch Counseling and Consulting
"I think it's really important to note first that suicides can happen without necessarily anybody picking up on the signs. People who are struggling and intent not to let someone in generally do a very very good job at putting on the mask and hiding. People who intend to complete a suicide like they don't want any intervention and their not necessarily seeking help they've made that decision for themselves generally will go at great lengths to keep people away and to make sure that they don't show signs. But whenever something tragic happens the human response is to ask what could we have done to prevented this? What did we miss? What went wrong? And sometimes you can see in hind sight connections and sometimes you just can't. Like sometimes there isn't anything we could have done in that moment except for the systemic things that need to happen like reducing stigma so that someone who is Suffering doesn't feel maybe as isolated or hopeless about reaching out for help they don't feel judged they don't feel like somebody is going to reject them or make derogatory or judgmental comments towards them."
But Courtenay adds that change in the system can make a big difference for anyone who finds themselves in a hopeless situation:
Christa Courtenay, Councillor & Managing Dir., Monarch Counseling and Consulting
"Stigma reduction is what all of our advocacy efforts are working towards along with the responsibility that we have as a country to increase the amount of mental health support that we have and just like we want pre-natal care or non-communicable diseases to be eradicated, we want people at every level in our society to be able to access mental health care and to make sure that trauma informed practices are being employed at every level of the medical service provision in the country. So there is lots of different things, there of different levels that we can do to prevent suicides, to decrease the frequency and to make sure people know that they can get help, there is help and they can access it."
