Our own Dr. Deborah Koricke was asked to talk with 19 Action News in Cleveland this January about suicidal teens. Here’s an excerpt from the story from 19 Action News’ site:
Matthew Homyk’s father spoke out Thursday about the loss of his son. He believes bullying led to the death of his son in Brunswick last week.
Matt’s father, Ray Homyk says, “Matt was a great kid. We have a lot of memories with times with family.”
Just last year, Matt helped lead his middle school lacrosse team to 4th place in Ohio.
“He was a goalie and he was fantastic,” Ray said.
Last week Matt took his own life. Ray says cyber bullying on websites like Ask.fm, where you can make anonymous posts, led to his death.
“Well I know a couple of times they said to go kill himself.”
Dr. Deborah Koricke is a psychologist, who works with teens who are suicidal. She says social media has made it even easier for bullies to pick their target. But there are signs that your child may be in trouble. “You gotta try to get your kids to talk to you.”
“If their child is withdrawn, if their grades are going down, if they’re always in their room, if they’re not socializing, if you see a dramatic change, negative. You gotta do something about it,” Dr. Koricke added.