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Working Together to Prevent Suicide
World Suicide Prevention Day 2019
Suicide remains one of the top 20 leading causes of death globally for people of all ages, and is responsible for over 800,000 deaths, which equates to one suicide every 40 seconds.
It is estimated that for every suicide, 25 people make a suicide attempt and many more have serious thoughts of suicide.
The causes are complex but the impact is the same, with families, friends and communities devastated by the loss of a loved one, and struggling to understand.
Research suggests the best approach to preventing suicide is a multilevel and cohesive approach in which we can all play a part, and hence, the theme of this year’s World Suicide Prevention Day is once again, “Working Together to Prevent Suicide.”
There are many ways in which we can have an impact. These include raising awareness about the issue, educating ourselves and others about the causes and warning signs for suicide, showing compassion and care for those who are in distress in our community, or volunteering at a local crisis/ distress centre.
Crisis lines play a crucial role in the fight against suicide. Trained responders in centres across BC offer free, confidential support and resources to anyone with a concern about suicide. They make outreach calls for worried friends and relatives, offer follow up calls to those with a heightened risk, and in some cases connect with emergency services to carry out an active rescue when the service users’ life was at risk.
In fiscal 2018-2019, 1800SUICIDE answered over 10,000 calls from service users in BC and carried out over 800 active rescues to secure the safety of people at risk.
Working or volunteering at a crisis centre not only offers skills training that can be applied in your life and career path, but offers the opportunity to make an immeasurable difference in someone life.
This World Suicide Prevention Day think about how you want to get involved.
Resources
View WSPD 2019 Suggested Activities.
Find WSPD Resources.
Access the WSPD 2019 Toolkit .
Find a local crisis centre to volunteer at.
