World Suicide Prevention Day
Suicide prevention remains a universal challenge. Every year, world wide, suicide is among the top 20 leading causes of death globally for people of all ages. It is responsible for over 800,000 deaths, which equates to one suicide every 40 seconds.
Every life lost represents someone’s partner, child, parent, friend or colleague. For each suicide approximately 135 people suffer intense grief or are otherwise affected. This amounts to 108 million people per year who are profoundly impacted by suicidal behaviour. Suicidal behaviour includes suicide, and also encompases suicidal ideation and suicide attempts. For every suicide, 25 people make a suicide attempt and many more have serious thoughts of suicide.
World Suicide Prevention Day (WSPD) is held on September 10th every year. This year the theme is “Working Together to Prevent Suicide.” This theme will be retained for WSPD in 2019 and 2020. The International Association for Suicide Prevention has chosen this theme as it highlights the most essential ingredient for effective global suicide prevention- collaboration. We all have a role to play and together we can collectively address the challenges presented by suicidal behaviour in society today. It is our responsibility as compassionate human beings to look out for those who may be struggling, advocate for them and encourage them to tell their story in their own way and at their own pace. Offering a gentle word of support and listening in a non-judgmental way can and has saved lives. We are encouraging the public to reach out, connect people to helping resources, communicate in a manner that does not feed stigmas around mental illness or suicide, and care enough to take action by learning about programming, strengthen awareness of resources, build understanding, break stigma, and keep the discussion going.
For WSPD, we at SPRC are promoting a variety of activities that people can take part in.
Activities:
Join the “TAKE 5” movement. Go to http://www.take5tosavelives.org/ to learn more. There are 5 things you can do. Learn the signs, join the movement, spread the word, support a friend, and reach out if you need help.
Light a Candle https://iasp.info/wspd2018/light-a-candle/
Ride a bike for “Cycle around the Globe” https://iasp.info/wspd2018/cycle-around-the-globe/
Check out https://www.sp-rc.ca/help-a-friend-get-help for links and an extensive list of the helping resources available in our area. Check some of them out. Call or visit and get to know who all the wonderful helpers are in our community. Check out our website to learn about our programs for youth, for men, and for survivors, and to learn what kind of training is available.
Events:
September 3-9: We will be posting some of these activities and ideas on how to acknowledge WSPD on FB and participating in other community events such as Thriving in the City” at GPRC and having a display at the Prairie Mall. These are places where people can participate in our “Pledge, Pic and Post” activity (see attached poster) https://www.facebook.com/suicideprevent/
September 8th: This is our annual awareness walk “From Darkness to Light” It is about walking in the darkness and into the rising sun, a metaphor for lifting the stigma associated with mental illness and suicide. We meet at Centre 2000, walk a marked trail through Muskoseepi Park and return to Centre 2000 for a continental breakfast. To learn more, visit our event page on facebook. https://www.facebook.com/events/2094863610778838/
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September 10th: We hope to offer a special event, which is still currently in the planning phase. Once we have confirmation that the event will be taking place, we will be posting it here, https://www.facebook.com/suicideprevent/ and sending out another media release specifc to the event.
For more information
Suicide Prevention Resource Centre website
http://www.sp-rc.ca features pages on our programs
World Suicide Prevention Day
Thu, Apr 25, 5:00 PM
Agriculture, Full-time