Today is World Suicide Awareness Day but for far too many people, - TopicsExpress



          

Today is World Suicide Awareness Day but for far too many people, every day is suicide awareness day. That’s because every year in Canada, almost 4000 people die from suicide and many more attempt to end their lives. Too often, it is only after tragedy strikes that people feel a sense of urgency to discuss this important issue. That’s why I was so pleased to learn that the Mental Health Commission of Canada (MHCC) was encouraging Members of Parliament all across the country to host meeting in their constituency over the summer to discuss suicide prevention. #308Conversations is a bold initiative that has brought together community members and stakeholders to help identify strengths and weaknesses in our system when it comes to suicide prevention. I am so grateful to the participants who agreed to meet together with me in Dartmouth last month. They included mental health professionals, advocates, mental health consumers, and parents. Each one of them brought a unique perspective and made an important contribution to our discussion. Over two hours, we identified several weaknesses in our system, which are probably similar to those in many communities. They included inadequate response from the school system, poor access to effective and timely mental health services, and a lack of both awareness and open conversations about the issue. We also identified some unique strengths in our community that we hope can be shared with others. They included successful peer-support programs which were a result of Nova Scotia’s Mental Health Strategy; Trauma Informed Care which ensures that patient care and safety is provided with the scope of their trauma being considered at all steps and is being instituted at the IWK as a result of reviews done in the wake of the death of Rehteah Parsons; and the Nova Scotia Tool for Suicide Risk Assessment, a standardized form that must be filled out for any patient that goes to a health care centre with a mental health concern. This form has been praised nationally and is already being utilized by other agencies across Canada. After our #308Conversations meeting we prepared a report that was submitted to MHCC. The Commission plans on using the results of these meetings to help inform its work developing a best practice community model on suicide prevention. You can read the full report from our meeting in Dartmouth by visiting my website at robertchisholm.ca or by contacting my office at 902-462-6453 and asking for a copy to be mailed to you. For more information on #308Conversations, visit mentalhealthcommission.ca/308conversations This is not an issue that will be solved with one meeting, or even 300 meetings. But it’s an issue that can get better if we continue to work at it. Once again, thank you to the Mental Health Commission of Canada for initiating #308Conversations, and to the outstanding participants at our meeting in Dartmouth for their valuable contribution to this important issue.
Posted on: Wed, 10 Sep 2014 13:55:37 +0000

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