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Stand by people prone to depression and truly assist them to get help

Depression. Suicide. These are taboo words especially when spoken in reference to men. At the turn of the year, one of Kenya’s top dons jumped from the top floor of a major hotel having spent several days alone over the family focused New Year. The hush-hush around his death affirms the taboo that surrounds this issue.

A couple of months before, a top-level executive had jumped from his plush office to a gruesome death. Last year, an associate of mine in his 50s checked into a hotel room and died from what we now know was suicide. When I had made enquiries, there was the usual evasiveness that surrounds such deaths. These three and a myriad others generally successful and flourishing on the outside. But in their minds, life had ceased to have meaning and they had taken that most grim of decisions; to take their own lives.

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