The Rev Ian Paisley and Martin McGuinness have pledged to work on a co-ordinated strategy to counter the level of suicide.
The promise follows a spate of suicides and self-harm involving young men and teenagers in Tyrone, Armagh and in Belfast.
Speaking after their first meeting yesterday with Children's Commissioner Patricia Lewsley, Mr McGuinness said it was not enough simply to sympathise with the bereaved.
The new Stormont Executive would work on strategies to reduce the rate of young people taking their own lives. Their joint office issued a statement committing Dr Paisley and Mr McGuinness to "providing all possible support to initiatives designed to tackle this issue".
"The greatest wealth that any community has is their young people and their wellbeing is our highest priority," they said. "In today's society young people face a tremendous array of pressures in their daily lives. It is important that they are enabled and empowered to deal with their problems and are made aware of the services available to support them."
The issue was among "the most important we presently face" and is "a major priority for ourselves and will be raised with our Executive colleagues at the earliest opportunity", they said.
They discussed with Mrs Lewsley co-ordinating and prioritising children's and young people's issues across government.
Addressing Assembly committee members, Mr McGuinness said the Executive and government departments needed to devise "a joined-up approach".He said the use of the internet by those planning their deaths was a "very worrying development".
The father of one of the three Co Armagh teenagers who took his life recently has spoken of the anguish faced by his and other families. Speaking the day after he buried Lee (15), Tony Walker said he had tried for 20 minutes to resuscitate his son whom he had found "cold and lifeless".
"I shouted for an ambulance to be called and tried for 20 minutes to resuscitate him. But I knew in my heart of hearts he wasn't alive," he told the Belfast Telegraph. "I didn't want to let him go and held him for three hours and cried until the undertaker came."
Mr Walker said he now feared for other teenage boys including his younger son.
" I just want it to hit home that young people shouldn't put their loved ones through what we are going through. I've lost one of my sons. I don't want anyone else to."