Under the supervision of the Dean of the College of Pharmacy, Associate Professor Dr. Sarmed H. Kathum Alkhateeb, the Psychological Counseling and Educational Guidance Unit, the Media and Government Communication Division, in cooperation with the Student Activities Unit, the Supporting Committee for Volunteer Work at the University of Baghdad/College of Pharmacy, and the Ministry of Interior, held a guidance workshop entitled “Promoting Awareness for Suicide Prevention”, presented by Lieutenant Colonel Mohammed Kathum Abood and Sir Kathum Jawad Kathum from the Community Police/Department of Information and Relations in the Ministry of Interior.The workshop aimed to raise the social and legal awareness of community members on the issue of suicide and electronic extortion from the standpoint of social and humanitarian responsibility.The workshop included two topics. The first focused on the motives for committing blackmail and how to avoid being a victim of blackmail by securing personal electronic accounts with a good password. The workshop also talked about the correct procedures that must be followed when exposed to electronic extortion. The second topic focused on the suicide phenomenon as one of the serious problems that threatens the structure and cohesion of society because it leads to the loss of one of its members. The workshop included the psychological, social, and economic characteristics that lead to suicide for both sexes. Some recommendations and proposals to reduce suicide and the factors driving it are concluded to serve as preventive steps, including activating the supervisory role inside and outside the family as well as activating the role of the media to confront this phenomenon by broadcasting awareness-raising and educational materials, job opportunities for young people, reducing violence, extremism, discrimination of all kinds, and drug addiction, establishing specialized centers for psychological treatment, and spreading the culture of psychological treatment. In conclusion, the attendants praised the workshop, and their questions and inquiries were answered by the lecturers.
