An 8 year old boy was found unresponsive at a home on St. Alban’s Drive on Thursday.  The boy was reportedly found hanging from the security bar of a window.  He was taken to hospital where he later died of his injuries.  According to police the older sibling of the boy alerted authorities of the incident.

Minister of Health and Wellness, the Hon. Dr. Michael Darville spoke with reporters about being able to recognize mental health challenges.  He said, “and to be able to identify a lot of the cardinal signs of individuals suffering from chronic depression or signs of any other mental illness.”

Consultant Psychiatrist,  Dr. John Dillet also commented on the issue.  He spoke of the impact of social media on mental health saying, “when you’re having a conversation with someone one on one you can tell if they’re smiling or if they’re angry.  You can tell if that comment offended the other person or not.  You can tell whether or not they are interested by them leaning forward or having some non verbal type of communication with you.  With communicating by text and WhatsApp etc. you lose that, so you tend to lose the normal nuances of human communication and that leads to disconnection or lack of connectivity.”

It is expected that 41 nurses trained in mental health will graduate this week.  Minister Darville said, “with these new mental health nurses being placed in the community facilities we will be in a better job for counselling and to be able to identify a lot of the cardinal signs of individuals suffering from chronic depression or signs of any other mental illness.”

Police investigations into the discovery of the 8 year old continues.