Weekly News Roundup Apr. 5-12, 2024

Subscribe to receive the weekly news roundup straight to your inbox!

Featured:
Suicide deaths decline in Alberta in 2023** – CTV News
April 10, 2024
**The numbers being reported on in this article are preliminary. 2023 numbers are not final and will increase as suicide death investigations are completed. Speaking about suicide statistics in general, Mara Grunau, executive director, Centre for Suicide Prevention, said,  “Research shows suicide is a lagging indicator. What we mean by that, if we think about it, people don’t resort to suicide immediately. Typically, they exhaust all their personal resources. If we have, for instance, a big bad event – a big destructive weather event, (or) it could be an economic crash – we often will see an increase in suicides, but we won’t see them until 18 to 24 months later.”

–

Suicide is on the rise for young Americans, with no clear answers – BBC
April 11, 2024
Suicide is the second leading cause of death among young Americans under age 35. Dr. Christine Crawford, a psychiatrist and associate medical director at the National Alliance on Mental Illness says that the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic could be affecting suicide rates, “It caused this significant hit on our young people in terms of acquiring the social skills and tools that they need. They were at home, they were disconnected from their peers and from the elements that are so critical for healthy development in a young person.” Katherine and Tony Salas lost their son Ben, 21, to suicide one year ago. Now they are working to raise awareness about “something he didn’t have control over – depression.”  Tony says, “We need more people to talk about it. If it can happen to us, then it can happen to somebody else.” Katherine adds, “Don’t settle for ‘I’m OK.’ An ‘OK’ may be an OK, but a lot of times it’s not.”

Suicides among a surprising population have doubled over the past 20 years, study finds – CNN
April 10, 2024
A recent study has found that suicide rates among US college athletes have doubled over the past 20 years. Study author Bridget Whelan says, “Collegiate athletes are often thought to have protective factors like the sense of community with their team (and) support of coaches, trainers, doctors and others… Unfortunately, this study shows that collegiate athletes are just as susceptible to (suicide).” Dr. Jacob Kay, clinical research affiliate at the University of South Carolina’s Arnold School of Public Health says, “This trend highlights the need for better screening methods, prevention strategies and support systems for student-athletes, as well as continued training (and) education for those working with student-athletes. Understanding the timing of suicides may help inform targeted intervention efforts and support systems to better meet the needs of student-athletes, particularly during these windows of vulnerability.”

Two tribal nations sue social media companies over Native youth suicides – CityNews
April 9, 2024
In the US, the Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin and the Spirit Lake Tribe in North Dakota have filed a lawsuit against Meta Platforms (Facebook and Instagram), Snap Inc. (Snapchat), ByteDance (TikTok), and Alphabet (Google and YouTube) accusing them of contributing to the disproportionately high rates of suicide in Native American young people. US school districts, states, cities, and other entities have filed similar lawsuits. “Enough is enough. Endless scrolling is rewiring our teenagers’ brains,” said Gena Kakkak, chairwoman of the Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin. “We are demanding these social media corporations take responsibility for intentionally creating dangerous features that ramp up the compulsive use of social media by the youth on our Reservation.” Google spokesperson José Castañeda said, “Providing young people with a safer, healthier experience has always been core to our work. In collaboration with youth, mental health and parenting experts, we built services and policies to provide young people with age-appropriate experiences, and parents with robust controls.”

Families of Ontario’s fallen first responders to get free counselling – CBC
April 5, 2024
Ontario has announced that they will provide two years of free bereavement counselling to families of first responders who have died by suicide. Counselling is available online or by phone, and services include crisis support, therapy, and counselling. Solicitor General Michael Kerzner said, “The challenges our public safety personnel and their families face can be overwhelming and I’ve seen this for myself. The trauma, the grief and the constant worry take a toll. So we aim to offer a safety net to the immediate family members who have sacrificed so much for Ontario.”