Suicide rates are expected to spike as issues related to the COVID-19 pandemic, such as unprecedented levels of unemployment, worsen existing mental-health conditions. There is no evidence directly linked to such a crisis – considering a pandemic on this scale has not occurred since suicide data started being collected – but existing literature points to a sharp increase in suicide amid traumatic situations such as floods, fires and economic downturns.
OTTAWA – Despite a surge in demand due to COVID-19, many distress centres across Canada are dangerously close to folding thanks to major declines in both volunteers and revenue. Stephanie MacKendrick, CEO of Crisis Services Canada, which runs the only national suicide-specific helpline in Canada, says her organization relies on a network of approximately 100 community distress centres across the country to field calls from people.
Alberta’s suicide rate is already higher than other provinces and according to experts, it’s grown alongside the provincial unemployment rate. Premier Jason Kenney addressed the issue as recently as Saturday during the United Conservative Party’s Annual General Meeting in Calgary.
Alberta is home to a lot of male-dominated industries. Farming, oil and gas and construction tend to employ mostly men. But it’s those industries that are prone to stress and pressures. A new documentary is exposing the issues, profiling Alberta men and their mental health.
Every day, 11 of your fellow Edmontonians attempt suicide. Some die.But they don’t have to.Research shows that, while the causes of suicide are complex, when friends and loved ones intervene it can sometimes mean the difference between life and death for someone in crisis.
People come from all over the world to take in the Canadian Rockies and some are even lucky enough to call the area home, but emerging research suggests a link between living in higher elevations and higher rates of suicide.
Suicide is never an easy topic to discuss, but having a national day to recognize its impacts can be a boon for those focusing on suicide prevention, says a Canadian expert.
With Indigenous and Metis youths five to six times more likely to die by suicide than non-Indigenous youths, Alberta is faced with a public and mental-health crisis, according to an expert. Within the Indigenous community, the bulk of suicide deaths involve youths, whereas middle-aged men make up the majority of suicide deaths within the general population, according to Mara Grunau, executive director of the Centre for Suicide Prevention.
From youth in segregation to jobless rates among people with disabilities, The Globe and Mail’s data-gaps project generated hundreds of responses from readers across the country on gaps they identified and want to see fixed. The paper’s continuing data-gap series includes an online tool that lets readers report data gaps they have encountered in their work or research.
Six years ago my brother took his own life. He was 28 years old. Tragically, suicide is not as rare as one might think. In 2016, the last year global data is available from the World Health Organization (WHO), there were an estimated 793,000 suicide deaths worldwide.Most were men.
Twelve local charities are receiving more than $60,000 each as a result of the 2018 Calgary Herald Christmas Fund campaign, the agencies learned at an announcement Friday. The total raised through the campaign launched in November was $746,465, translating to $62,205.41 for each of the organizations.
A Harvard Medical School researcher is criticizing Facebook’s new suicide prevention program, saying it amounts to using users for medical research without their consent. In a commentary published in the Feb. 11, 2019 issue of the Annals of Internal Medicine , John Torous raises concerns about Facebook’s suicide prevention efforts.
MEMBERTOU, N.S. – Margaret Paul has survived back-to-back attempts on her own life. While recovering in hospital from a suicide bid, she told nurses she felt like a failure. But over a decade later, the Mi’kmaq woman has found clarity. “It’s an illness that takes you,” said the 56-year-old who works as an educator in Membertou.
Close to 1,000 Canadians die each year because of their jobs, according to official numbers from Canada’s workers’ compensation agencies. But a new study says that figure is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the true extent of work-related deaths across the country.
In her role as volunteer/events co-ordinator for Rowan House, an emergency shelter in High River, Betty George never thought she’d be in a position to confidently help someone having thoughts of suicide. “For me, I always thought there would be nothing I could do,” she said.
One of the startling statistics that we ignore is that a person is more than 10 times as likely to die by their own hand as by another’s. Every year, Canada loses more than 100,000 years of potential life to suicide. From the Latin, suicidium, suicide is “the act of taking one’s own life.”
Looking back seven years, Stephen Hansen remembers knowing that something needed to be done about an increasing trend of suicides on Calgary’s transit system. There had been a number of deaths in 2011 along the CTrain line, several of which were suicides.
Christmas can be a wonderful time. We celebrate family, friends, health and well-being and give thanks for life’s blessings. The holidays are truly magical – whenever and however you celebrate, and no matter your beliefs or background. Unfortunately – and more so over the past several years – it can also be a cruel, difficult time.
By Blaise Kemna | @blaise_k | [email protected] It’s 6:30 in the morning, pitch black and the thermostat is flirting with the negatives, but many people still brave the cold to remember loved ones lost to suicide at the first annual Run for Life on Oct. 14, 2018.
Des experts profitent de la Journée mondiale de la prévention du suicide pour rappeler l’importance de parler de la maladie mentale et de briser les tabous. L’isolement est le plus grand danger pour une personne qui a des idées noires, préviennent-ils.
Mon, Sep 10: Mara Grunau with the Centre for Suicide Prevention joins Global News Morning Calgary to talk about the importance of addressing mental health and where to look for help with family and friends.
Monday is World Suicide Prevention Day and according to the Canadian Association for Suicide Prevention, 11 people end their lives in Canada every day and more than 200 make an attempt to. Mara Grunau and Shaye Ganam talk about the stigma surrounding suicide.
on today’s show, it is World Suicide Prevention Day, Joy Smith on the recent local sex trafficking story, and a wild story of a man’s laptop bursting into flames!
September 10 is World Suicide Prevention Day. This is the one day a year focused solely on awareness around the issue of suicide and its prevention and we’re spreading the message that suicide can affect anyone and anyone can prevent suicide. […]
A hot planet in 2050 could spark tens of thousands of more suicides, a new study suggests. The findings, which were recently published in the journal Nature Climate Change, found rising temperatures were linked to suicide spikes in countries like the U.S. and Mexico.
Studying the final words of those who died by suicide can help teach mental health-care workers important lessons, a new study published in the Canadian Journal of Psychiatry says. READ MORE: Suicide rates among Canadian women are rising faster than men.
Sun, Jun 10: : Mara Grunau, executive director of the Centre for Suicide Prevention, joins Global News Morning to talk about how high-profile suicides can impact people struggling with mental health issues, and what we can do to prevent suicide.
By Mara GrunauI love my Kate Spade purse. The cheery purple splash of colour draws attention from random people wherever I go – when I’m picking my kids up at school, shopping at the grocery store, or walking downtown at lunch.
The Homestretch with Doug Dirks and Jenny Howe: Today, NDP Member of Parliament Charlie Angus proposed a new bill on suicide prevention. The legislation calls on the government to develop a national action plan, including Canada-wide guidelines on prevention and training for front-line workers.
If you look at the risk factors for suicide, Jeremy Quaile ticked many of the boxes. He was a middle-aged man. His alcohol use had increased. He was withdrawing, increasingly, from family and friends. These things have been linked with an elevated risk of suicide in decades’ worth of research.
Alberta says a new strategy is needed to stem suicide among young people, especially at-risk Indigenous youth. The Children’s Services Ministry’s business plan released with the provincial budget last month commits the government to developing a youth suicide prevention plan.
Alberta at Noon: If you went public with your mental health challenges yesterday, what was that like? What are the next steps after you talk about your mental illness?
Families of two mentally ill Canadians who legally bought guns that led to their deaths tell Go Public that Canada’s often-lauded, gun control rules lack proper diligence.
Edmonton AM with Mark Connolly: Indigenous young people, who are in or once were in government care, are grossly over-represented in suicides since 2012. We’re talking to a suicide prevention advocate who says access to help is key.
At least once a week, Ralphie Mendita walks the span of Edmonton’s High Level Bridge on a personal mission to bring hope to the hopeless this holiday season. He walks the length of the bridge with a sign that reads, “Don’t Give Up.”
The story of a man who makes a weekly pilgrimage from in the West End to the High Level Bridge to offer hope to anyone contemplating suicide. And Adrienne speaks to Mara Grunau, a suicide prevention specialist about self-care during the holidays.
Three Montreal high school students have been suspended after plans for a suicide pact circulated through the school and collected dozens of signatures. Earlier this week, private secondary school, Collège d’Anjou sent a letter to parents saying a school staff member found a three-page letter inviting young people to take part in a suicide pact.
Be kind this holiday season Tomorrow is officially December, which means Christmas is just around the corner. For some, it’s the most wonderful time of the year. But for others, it’s not. Christmas is a time when most people are surrounded by family and friends, spending quality time together, exchanging gifts and indulging in turkey, stuffing, shortbread and sugar cookies.
Last summer, Susan Clairmont published a long feature story in the Hamilton Spectator about Nicole Patenaude, a young woman who took her own life by jumping off a bridge onto a highway. Clairmont’s piece, which took months to report and write, looked at Nicole’s life and struggles with mental illness-and garnered a “huge” reaction from readers.
After battling through his longest, toughest bout with depression yet, a Calgary city councillor chose to reveal his struggle publicly in the hope of chipping away at the stigma surrounding mental illness. Ward 11 Coun. Brian Pincott said in a series of tweets Sunday he had recently emerged from a four and a half year depression that had many days where “suicide was close.”
September 10 is World Suicide Prevention Day. Connecting with one, single individual can prove to be both life-affirming and life-saving. Our theme for the day is Connection, which is the essence of our work. Strengthening connection within ourselves, connection to others, and connection throughout our communities promotes resilience and hope.
“Basically, the response is ‘don’t be a pussy.'” “It’s been more intense post-downturn, there’s no question about that,” says sociologist Sara Dorow from On the Move – a Canadian partnership of researchers from 27 international universities studying the mobile workforce, also known as FIFO (fly-in fly-out) workers.
Fri, Jun 16: Every year, thousands of men kill themselves, the suicide rate amongst men is three times higher than woman. Heather Yourex-West explains why and how you may be able to help someone at risk.
In June 2016, Bill C-14 – the law that decriminalizes medical assistance in dying (MAiD) – took effect in Canada. Road to Mercy follows doctors and their patients as they struggle to identify the limits of the newly-granted right to die in Canada.
A suicide prevention advocate in Thunder Bay, Ont., is welcoming a new television show that has been widely criticized for making suicide glamorous. The Canadian Mental Health Association and the Centre for Suicide Prevention both issued statements recently raising concerns about the way the Netflix series 13 Reasons Why simplifies the causes of suicide and makes it seem like a viable or logical option.
School boards in the area are warning parents about what they call a potentially dangerous show that has become the most tweeted about Netflix series in just one month. ’13 Reasons Why’ is a series about a teenage girl who commits suicide and leaves audio cassettes to all those who she says contributed to her death.
High suicide rates in Alberta appear to be decreasing, which one expert calls “surprising.” “It’s counter-intuitive, you’d expect rates to go up when you have increases in economic distress,” said Peter Silverstone, a professor of psychiatry at the University of Alberta.
The number of Albertans who committed suicide in the first half of 2016 is down compared to the same time last year, according to the latest statistics from the province. Between January and June, 255 people took their own lives. That’s 20 per cent fewer than during the first six months of 2015.
It’s officially December, which I would say is the most wonderful time of year, but that’s not the case for everyone. With a drop in oil prices causing thousands of layoffs across the province over the last two years, many Albertans can’t afford the kind of Christmas they used to have.
Chelsea Lall remembers the first time she saw pill bottles and razor blades taped to her high school locker. Lall had been struggling with anxiety and depression and regularly cut up her arms to cope with the pain she felt inside amid nonstop bullying.
Some of Canada’s leading experts on mental health gathered in Toronto on the week-end to swap ideas and information. Suicide prevention was one of the topics covered and I chatted with the head of the Centre for Suicide Prevention, Mara Grunau, in Calgary. Here’s that conversation
Nine months ago an Alberta man was shot and critically wounded after being at the centre of a tense and dramatic standoff with police west of Edmonton. “The bullet’s still sitting on top of my C1,” Caleb Seeton, 30, says of the bullet that hit him in the head.
You Are Not Alone: Mental health is an issue that affects directly and indirectly everyone across the country, and yet stigma still surrounds the topic, especially suicide. In Alberta, we currently have the second highest rate of suicide in the country and there have been recent reports of the suicide rate climbing by 30 per cent.
World Suicide Prevention Day allows people to take a moment and think about those who are suffering from mental health issues but it’s also a day to start a dialogue about what the world can do better. According to the World Health Organization, more than 800,000 people die by suicide each year.
In the four seconds it took Kevin Hines to hit the water, the wave of relief he expected to feel was instantly replaced with one overriding emotion – regret. It was 2000, and a 19-year-old Hines decided to end his life than same way countless others had before him – he stepped off the deck of San Francisco’s famed Golden Gate Bridge.
Kevin Hines was in Calgary on Monday to talk about his suicide attempt, how he survived depression and how others can keep from making the same mistake. He made a film about that day in September 2000 when he decided to end his life by jumping from the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, something he regretted the moment it happened.
“What have I just done?” Regret hammered Kevin Hines instantly. Four seconds later, so would the impact of the water 25 storeys below. On Sept. 24, 2000, the then 19-year-old leapt off the Golden Gate Bridge, prompted by an onset of violent auditory hallucinations tied to his bipolar disorder.
World Suicide Prevention Day is on Saturday, Sept. 10 and I encourage everyone to take part in the global movement. Suicide is a common, preventable tragedy that has been occurring more often in Alberta since the economy started going downhill.
World Suicide Prevention Day allows people to take a moment and think about those who are suffering from mental health issues but it’s also a day to start a dialogue about what the world can do better. According to the World Health Organization, more than 800,000 people die by suicide each year.
Two weeks after a psychiatric patient died by suicide at the Peter Lougheed Centre, Alberta Health Services said it’s looking at the balancing act between freedom and treatment when it comes to mental illness. “We have to remember that these folks are patients, right?
Mara Grunau knows the math – for every one-per-cent increase in unemployment there is a similar increase in the suicide rate. But news of St. Albert’s recent spike in suicide attempts still came as a shock to the Centre for Suicide Prevention’s executive director.
I am only 23 years old and have known four people who have died by suicide. There is something seriously wrong with that. It all started when I was nine years old and my brother, who was 19 at the time, took his own life.
The millisecond after Kevin Hines jumped from the Golden Gate Bridge to the bay below, he felt instant regret. “I said to myself, ‘What have I done, I don’t want to die, God please save me,’ ” recalls Hines, 34, of his suicide jump in September 2000.
“It was the first millisecond, the first moment of free fall. I knew it was the worst mistake I ever made,” Hines, now 34, said recently. Hines, found to have bipolar disorder as a teenager, now travels the world urging others to not make that mistake.