#GivingTuesdayNow
This is a challenging time for everyone and we hope you’re staying safe and healthy through this COVID-19 outbreak. We appreciate your support of our non-profit education centre.
We live in uncertain and rapidly changing environments. Constantly destabilizing environments, coupled with social isolation and distancing, can have devastating potential for our mental health and suicide rates. Actual and predicted psychological impacts of COVID-19 are already becoming clear through research about social isolation, financial stress, and working in health care settings during COVID-19.
Suicide prevention education is more vital than ever during this challenging time and we know that education is one of the few best practices in suicide prevention.
The COVID-19 pandemic has suddenly put enormous pressure on our organization’s normal revenue generating streams. We must rethink our entire mode of delivering training and resources, and how to maintain our current levels of community education in suicide prevention. Yet, the mental health needs of Canadians have not gone away – we must continue to deliver urgent resources to vulnerable populations affected by the psychological impacts of social isolation, illness and anxiety.
Many of our in-person workshops have been cancelled, and we are therefore unable to maintain our usual funding by levying workshop user fees.
If you are able, we ask you to consider donating to help us continue to provide our services. If you would like to schedule a monthly donation, please use Canada Helps. Calgary and area residents can donate their bottle recycle refund through Skip the Depot, a pick-up service.
We are adapting our workshop delivery methods to current circumstances. We hosted our first online workshops this weekend, and will offer online learning as we are able for as long as we can.
Our free online resources are all still available and we encourage you to refer to them as-needed.
We are also creating COVID-19 specific suicide prevention materials, and yesterday we released our first blog post about suicide prevention in a pandemic, focusing on meaning, purpose, hope and belonging.
Thank you again for your continued support of our organization, and for supporting those around you by being alert to the warning signs of suicide and reaching out to someone who is struggling.