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


Police Suicide: Lowering the Risk by Addressing StressAmerican Military University Edge
November 15, 2022
This article explores some of the factors of suicide in law enforcement officers. During one shift, a police officer may respond to a wide range of emergency calls, many of which can have a psychological and physiological impact. Physiological impact includes elevated levels of cortisol, a stress hormone, which can affect heart rate and blood pressure. “Seeing traumatic incidents, dealing with internal politics and bureaucracy, and handling negative public perceptions of police” are other noted factors. This article goes on to outline warning signs that an officer may be thinking about suicide, and what to do to support them. Author Dr. Jarrod Sadulksi says, “Police suicide remains an ongoing problem in our society. When officers suffer from police stress, they should be encouraged to reach out for help, either through an employee assistance program, a counseling service, or other support service. Getting help as soon as possible will help an officer to mitigate (their) stress before it builds to where the officer is at risk of suicide.”

Study finds ‘huge’ increase in children going to the emergency room with suicidal thoughtsCNN
November 14, 2022
A study published last week notes a steady increase in the number of young people being seen in emergency rooms for suicidal thoughts in the US. The increase began before the pandemic, in 2016. “It just really highlights how mental health concerns were really a problem before the pandemic. I mean, we saw this huge increase in [emergency department] visits for kids of all ages, honestly, in 2019, and it’s very concerning,” said study co-author Dr. Audrey Brewer, attending physician at Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago and researcher. “We saw more kids than we typically do that we … wouldn’t necessarily have thought would have problems about suicidal ideation. We saw 5-year-olds.

How do you tell a child: ‘Daddy has taken his own life’?Daily Mail
November 13, 2022
This article explores the aftermath of the death by suicide of a parent, including the impact on the family, and how to talk to a child about the suicide. “I felt I was being held responsible when I got questions from family and friends like, ‘Didn’t you see it was coming’” and, ‘Did you have an argument before it happened?'” says Mia Scally, 34, of losing her husband Damon to suicide. “On top of losing my husband, it seemed everyone needed a reason so they could reassure themselves that the same could never happen to them.”

My son was not a ‘war hero.’ But he fought — and lost — the battle of depressionCBC
November 11, 2022
Andy Griffin lost son Ryan Griffin, 29, who served with the Canadian Armed Forces for four years, to suicide in November 2021. Griffin was never deployed but struggled with depression for more than 10 years, Father Andy Griffin says, “We have not hesitated to tell people that Ryan’s death was a suicide, but most don’t know what to say or how to respond. After Ryan’s death, one relative asked, “Couldn’t someone have seen this coming? … This is the challenge for us as a society — to reach a point where people feel the same comfort level talking about their depression as they would telling someone they have cancer.”

Canada will soon allow medically assisted dying for mental illness. Has there been enough time to get it right?Globe and Mail
November 11, 2022
This article explores the expansion of Medical Assistance in Dying to those experiencing mental health challenges, slated for March 2023. The author of this piece writes, “Just as life is getting harder in Canada, it is getting easier to die. For advocates, expanding MAID is about not discriminating between mental and physical health, about seeing patients as whole people capable of making their own decisions. Critics, on the other hand, suggest that MAID will become an easy out for a broken health care system, offering death rather than hope and treatment to society’s most vulnerable and marginalized citizens.”

Subscribe to the weekly news roundup