National Taiwan University (NTU) has established a task force to improve mental health services for students, after two alleged suicides and one accident were reported on its campus over five days, NTU president Kuan Chung-ming (管中閔) said yesterday.
After a female and a male student reportedly killed themselves earlier in the week, a male student on Friday fell from the school’s College of Social Sciences building.
The student who fell woke up from a coma yesterday morning and his condition has stabilized, local media reported.
Photo: Chien Jung-fong, Taipei Times
The school tries not to pry into the causes of cases, Kuan said on the sidelines of a fair marking the school’s 92nd anniversary, adding that people are under different levels of stress, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The school is saddened by the unfortunate incidents and has set up a threefold mechanism for student care, he said.
Students who saw or had contact with those involved in the incidents would be sent professional counselors by the school to track their condition, he said.
The school would also pay more attention to students who have received psychological counseling or those listed under high-risk groups in the Student Counseling Center’s database, he added.
Teachers who serve as class mentors have been asked to increase contact with students and build up their care network, he said.
Asked about the school’s ban on online discussion of self-injury incidents, Kuan said that there are upsides and downsides of such discussions.
While some students might find the discussions to be an emotional outlet and receive comfort from exchanging opinions, the discussions might also cause a so-called “Werther effect,” influencing some students to copy suicidal acts, he said.
The school would arrange for counselors to log onto students’ online forums to provide timely advice and ensure that the forums are spaces of mutual support, instead of sources of “contagious sorrow,” he said.
Kuan praised many student forums for self-regulating to curb an imitation effect, adding that the key is to soothe students’ fluctuating emotions.
Kuan said he sent an open letter to faculty members and students and, along with NTU vice president Chou Chia-pei (周家蓓) and Office of Student Affairs director Shen Chiung-tao (沈瓊桃), offered expressions of support to students in a video.
The school’s Department of Sociology announced on Facebook that its teachers have formed a support group and posted when teachers are free, encouraging students to talk with them.
The NTU Student Association last night staged a candlelight evening on the school’s main boulevard, hoping that teachers and students could cheer each other up.
Additional reporting by CNA
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