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:

UCP gives $220K for local suicide prevention effort  – Medicine Hat News
October 29, 2020
The provincial government has announced they will be giving $200,000, earmarked for suicide prevention efforts, to CMHA-Medicine Hat. Suicide prevention gatekeeper training like ASIST and safeTALK will receive funding, as well as promotion of initiatives like Buddy Up, which encourages help- seeking and help-offering among men. There has been a spate of suicides in Medicine Hat, mostly among men in their 30s and 40s, in the last few months.

Tom Brady gets called out for sharing false suicide/COVID-19 death statistic on InstagramCBS News
October 28, 2020
Misinformation about suicide was in the spotlight when star Tampa Bay quarterback shared some false facts about suicide and COVID-19 on Instagram. He stated that there have been “more suicide deaths than coronavirus death the past two months.” This is patently untrue, as Jonathan Singer of the American Association of Suicidology attests: “For this to be right, you would need a rise in the suicide rate that is just impossible.” There have been approximately 20,000 coronavirus deaths in the United States in June alone, whereas a typical month in the U.S. sees about 4000 suicide deaths (48,000 + in 2018). Misinformation about suicide is a key factor in the perpetuation of stigma surrounding suicide.

Predictions of more suicides, overdoses and domestic abuse during COVID are coming trueABC News
October 28, 2020
Ken Duckworth, chief medical officer of the National Alliance for Mental Illness in the US,  fears that predictions made in the early part of the pandemic—higher drug overdoses, greater instances of domestic violence and an uptick in suicides—is starting to come true some nine months later. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention states that the economic consequences due to the lockdown as well as the mental health toll the pandemic is having on the population at large is contributing to more suicides, overdoses and violence across the country.

Montana First Nations councillor gives back to youthPonoka News
October 27, 2020
Reggie Rabbit, a newly elected councillor for Montana Cree Nation at Maskwacis in Central Alberta, is pledging 10% of his salary to youth programming and initiatives. His donation will be named the Sapphirra and Easton Fund in memory of two Montana First Nation youth who died by suicide. His niece was Sapphirra, who was an aspiring model. She died in 2017.

Juvenile suicide rate in Japan hit record high in 2019 The Japan Times
October 27, 2020
The suicide rate among Japanese under 20 years of age has risen by 0.3% in 2019. However, the rates for all other age groups has decreased for the 10th year in a row—671 less suicides overall, a drop of 3.2%. 

Understand the link between borderline personality disorder, suicideOakland Press
October 26, 2020
An information piece by Dr. Kristyn Gregory, medical director of behavioral health at Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Michigan. She explains Borderline Personality Disorder and Bipolar disorder and the relationship both have with suicidal behaviours.

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