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HomeWhat We DoSuicide Prevention

Suicide Prevention

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What is the issue?

Suicide is one of the top ten causes of death in Canada. It’s a serious public health problem with lasting, harmful effects on individuals, families, and communities.

Evidence has indicated that one of the most common risk factors for suicide is a diagnosis of a mental health problem or illness. Fortunately, programs and strategies are available that can make a difference.

What are we doing?

As part of our ongoing commitment to life promotion and suicide prevention, we have created a range of evidence-based resources.

Roots of Hope Icon

Roots of Hope 
A Community-led Suicide Prevention Project, Roots of Hope builds on community expertise to implement suicide interventions tailored to local contexts. Through this project, we are building an evidence base that includes best practices, guidelines, and tools to support the development of a suicide prevention model across the country.

#ShareHope

Using the hashtag #sharehope allows Canadians to share messages of hope and resilience via Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, or Tumblr. Not on social media? Click to add a post directly to our #sharehope wall.

Learning Modules

Suicide: Facing the Difficult Topic Together
A free course designed to equip health care providers with the skills and confidence to have conversations with patients about suicide (accredited for continuing professional development). Developed by the MHCC, in partnership with the Canadian Association for Suicide Prevention (CASP) and mdBriefCase.

Toolkits

  • Suicide Prevention Toolkits
    Developed by the MHCC, in collaboration with the Canadian Association for Suicide Prevention (CASP), the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC), and an advisory committee of people with lived experience related to suicide, these toolkits offer a repository of resources to support people who have been impacted by suicide.
  • Suicide Risk Assessment Toolkit: A Resource for Healthcare Workers and Organizations
    Developed in collaboration with the Canadian Patient Safety Institute, provides a high-level overview of what health-care workers and organization need to consider when using suicide risk assessment tools. It also highlights and describes a range of available tools.

Webinars

A repository of webinars on suicide prevention, life promotion, intervention, and the community response to suicide (postvention).

Fact sheets

Information on suicide and bullying, injury prevention, trauma-informed care, older adults, sexual minorities, transgender people and COVID-19. Developed through an MHCC partnership with the Centre for Suicide Prevention (CSP).

Research

Safe Messaging and Conversations

  • Mindset: Reporting on Mental Health
    This field guide, developed by the Canadian Journalism Forum on Violence and Trauma, is designed to help media professionals write more complete stories and avoid contributing to mental health stigma. Among a range of updates in the third edition (2020) is guidance on creating more nuanced accounts related to suicide.
Related Initiatives
Toolkit for Survivors of Suicide Loss and Postvention Professionals

The toolkit is a one-stop repository of high-quality, publicly available resources

Suicide Prevention Webinar Series

Focused on suicide prevention, intervention, and postvention

Online modules for healthcare professionals

Access our accredited, online suicide prevention training modules for family physicians and nurses

Resources

The Mental Health Commission of Canada (MHCC) is committed to promoting mental health and wellness and preventing suicide in Canada and has made work in this area a top priority. Click on the links below for more information.

THE STONY PLAIN EARLY ADOPTER COMMUNITY Stony Plain is part of a tri-region area (with Spruce Grove and Parkland County) that lies west of Edmonton and has a combined population…

Innovative guiding principle: Attempt, evaluate, and share creative and innovative ideas to advance suicide prevention efforts globally. Flexible guiding principle: While standardization is important when comparing communities or tracking progress…

Sustainable guiding principle: Design initiatives that allow for continued funding and leadership. The Sustainable guiding principle puts the focus on the strategies Roots of Hope project teams can use to…

Measurement and evaluation guiding principle: Measure outcomes and evaluate interventions to determine their effectiveness and inform future innovations. The Measurement and Evaluation guiding principle is about generating meaningful insights through…

Strengths-based guiding principle: Build on existing strengths rather than on identifying and closing gaps. Recovery-oriented guiding principle: Focus suicide prevention efforts on giving people hope, treating them with dignity, and…

Culturally Appropriate guiding principle: Develop, implement, and evaluate interventions that respect a diversity of cultures and are responsive and appropriate (for the overall community and specific subpopulations). Lived Experience guiding…

Collaboration/Coordination guiding principle: Design programs to enhance collaboration among stakeholders. Collaboration/Coordination is the Roots of Hope guiding principle that generated the most comments and insights from the project leads interviewed…

Comprehensive guiding principle: Use multiple interventions geared toward a wide range of individuals across a varietyof settings. Span the continuum guiding principle: Address suicide across the entire spectrum, including prevention,…

What am I getting wrong about mental health? While people in Canada are talking about mental health more than ever, misconceptions in the media and elsewhere are keeping the stigma…