Towards the end of last week, our regular listener Cedric sent me a deeply disturbing message on the WhatsApp line. He said a 14-year-old Durban High School learner had fallen from Tollgate Bridge onto the N3 in what the community believes may have been a suicide attempt linked to bullying. Thankfully, he survived, and remarkably, none of the passing vehicles struck him. Paramedics rushed to the scene, stabilised him and took him to hospital with critical injuries. But if bullying did play a role in what happened, we have to ask: how did a 14-year-old child get to a point where he felt that ending his life was the only way out? 

Guest: Joan Van Niekerk, clinical social worker with over 40 years of experience in child protection and child rights