Weekly News Roundup Mar 4 – 10, 2019
Every day we scan news headlines and social media for items of interest to the field of suicide prevention. Here’s what we found last week:
Officer down – CBC
March 10, 2019
This is an investigative piece by the CBC accompanying a Fifth Estate episode examining the 12 Ontario Provincial Police suicide deaths that have taken place since 2012. This article discusses factors in police suicides, and in the Ontario Provincial Police suicides in particular, as well as measures police forces in Canada have taken to prevent police suicide.
‘Our goal is to halve the male suicide rate’: why no-frills therapy works for men – Guardian
March 9, 2019
Andy’s Man Clubs is an initiative out of the UK that encourages men to talk about their emotions and create community with their peers. Men gather together to talk honestly about how they’re doing emotionally with peers. “We’ve made talking about this stuff cool,” says Luke Ambler, a 28-year-old former rugby league pro who started the club in 2016. Ambler started the initiative after losing his brother-in-law Andy to suicide. Ambler says, “We base each meeting around five questions: ‘How’s your week been?’; ‘Name one positive thing that has happened to you this week.’; ‘Anything to get off your chest?’; ‘What’s your goal between now and next week?’; and ‘Tell us about someone you appreciate in your life and why?’ We want to help the men see their lives in a better light.”
Deaths From Drugs and Suicide Reach a Record in the U.S. – New York Times
March 7, 2019
*Method warning* Deaths from alcohol, drugs and suicide in the US are the highest they’ve ever been since the beginning of this data collection in 1999. These types of deaths have doubled since then: 150,000 people in the US died from alcohol, drugs and suicide in 2017. 47,173 of these were suicide deaths. Firearm suicides have also increased by almost 25% since 2009.
Little kids who talk about suicide know what death means – Futurity
March 7, 2019
A new study has found that children ages 4 to 6 who have depression and talk about dying by suicide understand the concept of death more clearly than other children of the same age. “The historic take on young children and suicide has been that they have no idea what they’re talking about, that maybe they’re repeating something they’ve heard or doing it for attention,” says senior investigator Joan L. Luby, professor of psychiatry at Washington University in St. Louis. “Our findings refute that. It really does seem that children expressing suicidal ideation understand what it means to die, and they understand it better than their peers.”
Canadian philanthropist opens up about losing both sons to suicide – Global
March 5, 2019
Invesment banker Tom Budd, known as a generous philanthropist in the Okanagan, British Columbia area, recently spoke out about losing his two sons, Dillon, 13, and Payton, 16, to suicide. “The night that I discovered that Dillon had killed himself, it was like a lightning bolt going through my body,” Budd said. “It’s clear that when there’s a suicide in the family, the risk goes up for other members, including me, including my ex-wife. And so I knew Payton would be a risk,” Budd said.
Advocates ask court to intervene in case of Sask. prisoner kept in segregation more than 2,000 days – Globe and Mail
March 5, 2019
A federal court is being asked by prisoner advocates to intervene in Joey Toutsaint’s case as they believe Toutsaint is at risk of dying by suicide. Toutsaint, 32, has spent more than 2,000 days in segregation in different institutions. “I think that’s just brutal,” said Catherine Latimer, executive director of the John Howard Society of Canada. “That’s very cruel and inhumane treatment to keep someone in administrative segregation for extended periods of time like that.” Nicole Kief of Prisoners’ Legal Services in BC said, “The purpose of the injunction really is to make sure he can stay alive until his human rights complaint can be resolved.”
Keith Flint, 49, Mohawked Frontman of the Prodigy, Dies – New York Times
March 4, 2019
Keith Flint, founding member of the band The Prodigy, died by suicide at the age of 49 on March 4. His fellow band members broke the news on the Prodigy Instagram account, with a message from frontman Liam Howlett, “I can’t believe I’m saying this but our brother Keith took his own life over the weekend,” Mr. Howlett wrote, adding that he was angry, confused and heartbroken by the news.
Singer’s tragic story brings Luke Bryan to tears on emotional ‘American Idol’ premiere – AOL
March 4, 2019
Nick Townsend, 25, shared his experience of losing of his brothers to suicide on this season’s premiere of popular network television show American Idol.