Weekly News Roundup – September 18 – 25, 2016
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:
Featured:
You Are Not Alone Suicide Prevention Initiative – Teamsters Local 362
Sept. 15, 2016
The Centre for Suicide Prevention is proud to be a part of the Teamsters Local 362 #YouAreNotAlone campaign, which seeks to educate it’s members about suicide prevention and the importance of reaching out for help when it is needed. The campaign is a series of 8 episodes, each featuring a different aspect of suicide prevention.
Young people need early access to mental health care – Huffington Post Blog
Sept. 23, 2016
Christopher Canning, who works for the Mental Health Commission of Canada, describes in this blog post what it would have meant for him to have had mental health supports and even basic understanding, as a youth. Canning stresses it is crucial to improve how our mental health system cares for youth.
MPs head to Nunavut to study ‘tragic epidemic’ of suicide – CBC
Sept 22, 2016
This past Friday, the House of Commons Standing Committee on Indigenous and Northern Affairs will travel to Nunavut to hear about the suicide crisis going on in Iqaluit. Having already heard from over a dozen experts in Ottawa, the committee is going to Iqaluit to hear from community members who have lost loved ones to suicide.
National suicide prevention conference coming to Nunavut’s capital – Nunatsiaq Online
Sept. 22, 2016
This year the Canadian Association for Suicide Prevention (CASP) is holding their annual conference in Iqaluit, Nunavut.
Mental-health calls tax resources of Edmonton police department – CBC
Sept. 22, 2016
Although calls relating to mental health concerns have not increased in the past year, they are still a “major expense” for the the Edmonton Police Department. City Councillor McKeen believes that more social housing options would alleviate pressure on the police.
Here’s how schools can support students’ mental health – NPR
Sept. 20, 2016
Schools are a great place for suicide prevention, but how can school staff work together to prevent student suicide? “Create a school environment of general well-being, and a climate where mental health isn’t stigmatized,” suggests this article. Amanda Aiken, Senior Director of Schools at New Orleans College Prep, implemented suicide prevention policies at her schools, and she talks about the process, along with other staffers who have also had first-hand implementation experience.
Ukrainian family with suicidal teen ordered again to leave Canada after failed refugee bid – National Post
Sept. 20, 2016
A family from the Ukraine is no longer allowed to stay in Canada even though “a last-minute ministerial intervention spared” them from deportation two weeks ago. The intervention came after the family’s son, 15, was in hospital after a suicide attempt. “Now, however, they are once again due to be deported, despite a hospital psychiatrist’s warning that it will trigger another suicide attempt by (the son).” An immigration lawyer, Hart Kaminker, says that Border Services “taunt(ed) the family” and, “it’s wrong.”
Why young children are dying by suicide – Time
Sept. 19, 2016
The upcoming issue of journal Pediatrics will feature a study about suicide in children. Some findings included that most kids who died were male, and about one third had been diagnosed with a mental health disorder. About 30% of kids told someone about their intentions.
Coroner’s inquest recommends shift in BC’s approach to suicide – CBC
Sept. 19, 2016
In the span of just 6 months, 3 people who received in-patient mental-health help at Fraser Valley hospital died by suicide just days after leaving the hospital. This has prompted a coroner inquest, one that gave several recommendations to the hospital, including: “implementing systematic and evidence-based suicide-prevention initiatives; a program to educate all health-care staff on privacy laws regarding the sharing of health-care information; and a policy that involves family in mental-health and addiction treatment.”
New curriculum addresses mental health for young doctors – Macleans
Sept. 19, 2016
The University of Toronto is introducing a new curriculum which includes several weeks of resiliency training, “designed to combat the stresses of medical school” and “encourage people struggling with common experiences like failing a test or feeling depressed to seek help.” While there is no data on suicide among Canadian doctors, according to the Journal of the American Medical Association 29% of young doctors worldwide (of 17,000 surveyed) have depression or depressive symptoms. Another study by Student BMJ found that 14% of medical students considered suicide while they were in school. A first-year resident at McMaster University argues that while talking about mental health is good, the resiliency programs aren’t getting to the real issue: the culture of medicine, which encourages “working 80-, 90-, 100-hour weeks, and never taking time off.”
A ‘psychiatric refugee:’ why one woman fled BC’s mental health laws – CBC
Sept. 18, 2016
A woman who now lives in Ontario said she escaped the BC psychiatric system when she went out for a cigarette break one day, after being held against her will at a psychiatric facility there. Now, BC’s Mental Health Care Act is being challenged by two other people who were held against their will. The current act, it is being argued, violates the Canadian Charter.