Suicide Prevention

ASIST : Applied Suicide Intervention SkillsTraining is coming in May. This is a two day suicide first aid interactive workshop for community caregivers.To learn more click HERE.

safeTalk:Suicide Alertness for Everyone.May 17th from 1-4pm at the First Baptist Church 100 Ochterloney St. Darmouth, NS. To learn more click HERE.

South Shore Safe Communities Suicide Prevention Working Group

WHY?

This issue was identified as a priority area because suicide is the leading cause of injury and death for people age 35-64 years in the Western area of Nova Scotia and the 2nd leading cause of injury and death for those ages 16-34.

Who we are:

Our Goal: To work within a best practices framework to address suicide in our community by
increasing protective factors, building on existing resources and linking with national and
provincial initiatives.

Through an intensive literature search and data review process, the implementation of a local suicide symposium and attendance at Injury Prevention workshops/conferences we have identified 10 best practices that guide all of our groups’ actions.

These are:

1. Increased quality and quantity of research and data collection around suicide
2. Media awareness policies that restrict the reporting of suicides
3. Increase protective factors in youth to lower suicide risk
4. School based awareness programs that educate youth in identifying peers at risk
5. Link suicide prevention strategies with mental health and addictions services
6. Promote crisis centers/hot lines that have trained staff
7. Restrict the availability of lethal means
8. Standardized assessment for frontline workers
9. Rapid access to services for those at risk
10. After hospitalization/treatment, discharge plans are for one year follow-up minimum 

Accomplishments:

• Together with members of our community we held a two day symposium consisting of information sharing and gathering around these 10 best practices. This information was compiled, and shared with those who attended the symposium. A second session including original participants and additional key community members, such as police and media, was held to assist in the identification of at least one key action for each best practice.
• We are working within the context of the emerging Provincial Suicide Prevention Strategy and collaborate with the interagency group that includes a focus on children and youth. Also we have received funding of $8500 from Nova Scotia Health Promotion, $5000 of which is to aid in the preparation of ASIST (Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training) Trainers.
• We have increased the availability and encourage the participation of community members and professionals in ASIST. South Shore Safe Communities is providing funding to cover a portion of the cost, associated with ASIST workshops, for those community members in need of financial support, who have an interest in this area and are frontline workers in the community.
• Provincial media guidelines that restrict the reporting of suicide have been compiled by Mental Health Services of the Dpt. Of Health, these guidelines have not yet been officially released throughout the province but have been distributed to local media contacts on the South Shore. The next step in this process of media awareness will be to pull the media and public together to discuss how we can work together to move the guidelines forward.
• We worked together with local RCMP officer’s, such as Greg Smith, to address the issue of safe storage and removal of lethal weapons from the home.
  

 We welcome new members with an interest and understanding of the importance of addressing this issue within our community and try to build on the work of other groups/committees, such as bullying prevention.