Weekly News Roundup Jan. 20 – 26, 2024

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Featured:
Calgary performers support mental health with 26-hour improv marathon – Global News
January 26, 2024
The Kinkonauts improv group are performing a 26-hour comedy marathon to raise awareness for suicide prevention. The marathon is being held in memory of Covy Holland, a member of the group who died by suicide in 2022. Kinkonauts performer Aaron Ranger said, “He was a cherished member of the group, just a wonderful personality, and when he entered a room he really lit it up and when he got onstage, he was just incredible.” The show starts on Friday, Feb. 2 and goes until Saturday, Feb 3 at the Atrium performance space in downtown Calgary. Tickets are by donation, with proceeds coming to the Centre for Suicide Prevention.
Learn more and purchase tickets

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A shared journey of trauma and recovery: Veterans open up about mental health ahead of Bell Let’s Talk day – CTV News
January 26, 2024
**Graphic description, method warning** In this article, Chris Dupee talks about his experience with PTSD and a suicide attempt following his 10 year military career.  “Being in the military it does become a life defining experience, but having it a life defining experience isn’t healthy, we need to recognize that’s just a small part of who we are… (In the military) you get pressed into mental levels that you never thought you would have to go.” Along his recovery journey, Dupee found that it was a struggle to find supports that were suitable for him. This led him to co-create ‘Cadence,’ a mental health treatment centre for veterans and first responders in New Market, Ontario. The centre has a gym, common rooms, a few rooms for second-stage sober living treatment programs, and staff members who offer therapy. Dupee also believes it’s important to talk about his experience, to be an advocate: “I’ve gone through my own journey of hell and I’d like to think I’ve come out of it. For me it’s painful to see other people going through it, so I try to be the voice for people that I wish I heard… that someone said to me when I was going through it.”

If your teen is socially withdrawn, be on the lookout for more serious problems, study suggests – CNN
January 25, 2024
A new study has found that preteens who are socially withdrawn and who experience physical discomfort are more likely to have thoughts of suicide at age 16.  Christopher Willard, a teaching associate in psychiatry at Harvard Medical School in Boston says, “As human beings, we are wired for social connection. When it’s neutral or positive, it lifts us up, it helps our mental health, it helps us have something to live for. It gives us perspective.” The article goes on to talk about what concerned parents can do. Willard says, “If you hear a lot of complaints about aches and pains, it doesn’t (automatically) mean your child is suicidal. But you might want to ask a bit about how they are feeling overall, whether they have things they are looking forward to and so forth.”

Nishnawbe Aski Nation holds emergency meeting in Ottawa amid surge in sudden deaths on First Nations – CBC
January 24, 2024
Last week, leadership with the Nishnawbe Aski Nation held an emergency meeting with federal officials to discuss recent youth suicides and unexplained deaths in First Nations in northwestern Ontario. The meeting focused on solutions. Grand Chief of Nishnawbe Aski Nation Alvin Fiddler said, “Our people are suffering, and more may be lost needlessly unless we take meaningful, collective action on an expedited basis.” Sol Mamakwa, the NDP MPP for Kiiwetinoong, said, “It’s so important that we come up with some type of strategy or process where we start creating a First-Nation-led wellness plan for each [community] because they’re the ones that know what needs to be done. We just need to provide the support and the resources … rather than having a big facility out in Thunder Bay or wherever.”

My Parents Both Died By Suicide — On The Same Day. I Haven’t Been The Same Since. – HuffPost Personal
January 23, 2024
**Method warning** Sharon Nery lost both parents to suicide. In this article, she describes her healing journey, including the guilt and stigma she faced along the way. Nery also talks about how she feels her parents’ continued presence in her life and honours them. “Each day, before I leave for work, I hold a little fashion show in front of the mirror that used to hang in my parents’ bedroom… I view this daily exercise as an opportunity to connect with the woman who — for all I know — may be gazing back at me through the looking glass… I have also arrived at the unorthodox notion that my father (whose appetite was legendary among family members!) might take otherworldly enjoyment from the food I prepare during the holidays. For that reason, I always include one or two of his favorite dishes…” She reflects, “The event that transpired on that cold, clear early winter day in 1994 has changed my life in so many ways — some for the good, others for the not so good. I’m kinder to others. I cherish the smallest of pleasures. I listen better. I cry more easily. I have trouble sleeping… I wear vulnerability like a scent. I too often imagine the worse, for I know the worse can happen… because it did. But in a world where the worst exists, so too does the best. I’m satisfied with settling for the middle ground.”

Native American communities have the highest suicide rates, yet interventions are scarce – CNN
January 22, 2024
Native American people in the US have higher suicide rates than the general population. Tribal nations are interested in collaborative research with universities into effective suicide prevention practices, but the funding is hard to come by. Stephen O’Connor, who leads the suicide prevention research program at the National Institute of Mental Health, said, “Given the crisis of suicide in Native American populations, we need more funding and continued sustained funding for research in this area.” Teresa Brockie, a member of Fort Belknap reservation’s Aaniiih Tribe, is a researcher and associate professor at Johns Hopkins School of Nursing. Brockie is studying suicide prevention and intervention strategies that respect Indigenous beliefs and customs, such as smudging. Brockie says this respect and understanding are vital, as many people in tribal communities have “universal mistrust of health care and other colonized systems that have not been helpful to our people or proven to be supportive.”

Opinion: We need to talk openly about suicide – Globe and Mail
January 20, 2024
In this opinion article, Trina Moyles talks about her experience of loss following the suicide of her older brother. Moyles was confronted with stigma when talking to friends, for example, one person told her, “It’s just so selfish.” For these reasons, Moyles says, her grief felt different than that of grief from losing one in a “emotionally cleaner, more understandable and socially acceptable” way, “Where his death would be perceived as tragic, but also somewhat heroic, and I could mourn and speak openly about it without causing distress, or discomfort to others.” Moyles found comfort in sharing her experience with others who had lost someone to suicide. Peris Wasonga, a social worker with Suicide Grief Support Services in Edmonton said, “When we look closely at how it is different, this loss of suicide compared to grieving a loss to other forms of death, it’s about looking at how people explore responsibility.” Moyles reflects, “The key word is responsibility. Is that why we hush the stories surrounding suicide? Because we are afraid that we didn’t do enough to help our loved ones, nor see the signs to prevent it? That we are somehow culpable? How do we see our own selves in relation to those we lose to suicide?” Moyles encourages more open dialogue about suicide, “Humans desperately want to predict outcomes… But that doesn’t always work. Maybe that’s why talking about suicide scares us so much, and why, ultimately, we need to share more openly about it in order to address it – to say the word without the taboo and stigma and shame that envelops it.”