Greetings everyone.

Sadly, the area that I live in has been experiencing a number of suicides
over the past few months. When I moved to the area just over 5 years ago, we
initiated a program with Health Canada that provided education and resources
to the local communities. We started a local Suicide Awareness Committee and
trained a number of community members on Suicide Intervention. We also set
up a local phone line that connected to the Telecare in nearest larger
community so that it was no longer a long-distance call.

It appears as though the effectiveness of this program, which finished
around 3 years ago, is diminished now. We had seen a decrease in suicides up
until this past 6 months and the issues that were present a few years ago
are staring to surface again.

Our goal is now to re-establish this program. There is currently a large
number of youth interested in taking a suicide education program. At the
last funeral of an 18 year old male in a local small community (population
of 150), over 700 youth attended the visitation and funeral - many did not
want to leave after the visitation. Our plans are to hold a follow-up
session with these youth to address their concerns re suicide and to make
sure that they are directed to appropriate community resources as required.

I am writing this because I know that there are a number of individuals on
this list connected with various agencies and government programs and would
appreciate any direction to potential resources/assistance for this issue in
our area.


Thank you,


Peter Jones, Chair
North Victoria Healthy Communities Coalition
Box 322
Coboconk ON  K0M 1K0
(705) 454-8875
(705) 454-9197 Fax
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