Breaking the stigma
Suicide Prevention Day seeks to change attitudes.
This year’s World Suicide Prevention Day event aims to help break the stigma around suicide so people in crisis will feel more comfortable reaching out when they need help.
“Talking about suicide opens it up … it is a normal part of living. Just like the rain is a normal part of living and cancer is a normal part of living,” said Fran Morrison, one of the organizers of the event and founder of Survivors of Suicide Cape Breton (SOS) who host it.
“We want to make it normal enough, so that people who are in crisis, who have dealt with stigma, can start feeling normal enough to reach out. That’s what our goal is; to make people comfortable enough to talk about it.”
This is the third-year for the event in Sydney but it isn’t a walk like previous years. This
year the free event at Centre 200, starting at 7 p.m., features speakers, entertainment and refreshments.
Morrison explained they went “more professional” this year because the committee that organizes it felt there is now an increased amount of awareness about suicide in Cape Breton but prevention is still an issue.
“For prevention, until mental health services gets their act together, how are we going to
prevent suicide?” said Morrison, who lost her son to suicide six years-ago.
Morrison has her Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training certification to help someone in immediate crisis. This training teaches people how to help someone who is suicidal or potentially suicidal find the professional assistance they need.
“But if the help is not there, what’s going to happen? You
know, we can’t hold their hand 24-7. They need to have some kind of hope they can get help to get relief from the pain that they’re feeling,” Morrison explained.
“And the professionals that have studied this … have to be available for that. And until they are available and do their jobs we can’t prevent suicide.”
Guest speakers at this year’s event are Todd Leader and Suzanne Sagmeister.
Originally from Glace Bay, Leader is a psychologist, social worker and part-time professor at Saint Mary’s University in Halifax. He is the author of “It’s Not About Us” and will be talking about client-based care in mental health.
Sagmeister, a photographer and author based out of Victoria, B.C., has travelled across Canada, interviewing survivors of suicide. Her soon to be released book, “Life After Dark,” is the collection of these stories.
Local survivors of suicide, who are featured in the book, will read their stories.
Roughly 200–300 people attended last year’s World Suicide Prevention event and Morrison hopes to get 500 people this year.
“Since we have had to deal with suicide as a community (this year), I think the community needs to come out,” she said.
“It is a reality in our community and if people don’t show up it looks like they don’t care … that’s how I feel about it anyway.”