The total number of elementary and junior high school students and high school students who committed suicide last month was 48, 22 more than the same period last year, surpassing the previous year for 6 consecutive months.

The counseling agency is calling for "I want someone to talk first", saying that there is a risk that more children will be pondering alone during the winter vacation as the new coronavirus spreads.

According to statistics released by the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, the total number of elementary and junior high school students and high school students who committed suicide last month was 48, an increase of 22 or 84.6% compared to the same period last year.

It has been the sixth consecutive month since June, surpassing last year.



Looking at the period from April to November, the number was 329, an increase of 73 from last year's 256, or 28.5%.



By elementary, junior high and high


school, there were 237


high school students, 84 junior high


school students, and 8 elementary school students,


all of which are higher than the same period last year.



Katsuyoshi Shinkouchi, director of the counseling center of the NPO "Tokyo Mental Health Square," which provides consultation activities on SNS, may be affected by social changes caused by the new coronavirus, and many children may be stressed and pondered. I will point out.



On top of that, he said, "I'm worried that some children will get stuck because their behavior will be restricted during the winter vacation and they will not be able to release stress. Even during the vacation, there are places where local governments and private institutions can use SNS to accept consultations. It's an easy way to do it, so I want someone to talk to me first. "

"Talk to someone first"

The NPO "Tokyo Mental Health Square," which accepts consultations on mental concerns via SNS, is also receiving consultations from children one after another.



Katsuyoshi Shinkouchi, director of the counseling center, said, "Children are strongly affected by social changes caused by the new coronavirus. Not only the children themselves but also their parents' lives are in a difficult situation, and children who are pondering and stressed I think there are many. "



On top of that, he said, "I'm worried that some children will get stuck because their behavior is restricted during winter vacation and they can't release stress. Especially, I'm worried about children with complicated family conditions such as abuse and poverty. There are more places to accept consultations, such as by using SNS at institutions. It's hard to have troubles. I want someone to talk to me first because I can do it in an easy way. "



"Tokyo Mental Health Square" accepts SNS consultations from noon to 9:00 pm every day during the year-end and New Year holidays, and from the 26th to the 27th of this month, it accepts consultations overnight.



You can search for IDs with "@kokorohotchat" from LINE, Twitter, and Facebook.

Information for consultation

● 24-hour children's SOS dial (open all year round) 0120-0-78310 (Let's say something)


* Conducted by the Board of Education in all prefectures and ordinance-designated cities.



● LINE consultation Conducted in 28 local governments nationwide.



Hokkaido, Yamagata prefecture, Gunma prefecture, Tokyo, Kanagawa prefecture, Niigata prefecture, Nagano prefecture, Gifu prefecture, Mie prefecture, Kyoto prefecture, Osaka prefecture, Hyogo prefecture, Wakayama prefecture, Tottori prefecture, Okayama prefecture, Tokushima prefecture, Kochi prefecture, Kumamoto Prefecture, Sendai City, Saitama City, Chiba City, Nagoya City, Kyoto City, Osaka City, Sakai City, Kumamoto City, Otsu City, Noda City.



* Municipalities where the Ministry of Education supports SNS consultation.


* QR codes are distributed to junior and senior high school students in each municipality.



If you want to know the QR code, please contact the board of education of each prefecture.



● Childline * Telephone and chat consultations will be closed from 29th to 3rd January.



Telephone consultation 0120-99-7777 (4 pm to 9 pm) Online chat consultation (4 pm to 9 pm) (Thursday, Friday, 3rd Saturday of every month) * Chat consultation is possible from the childline HP https //childline.or.jp/chat