Today is World Suicide Prevention Day.
As part of the day, the Mental Health Commission of Canada has announced an expansion to its suicide prevention program. Chair of the Halton Suicide Prevention Coalition, Melanie McGregor, explains the program.
Halton is going to be one of ten additional communities across Canada that will be getting the Roots of Hope program. McGregor says this will be great to expand services to help prevent suicide in our community.
The ten early adopter communities from across the country have each identified groups that are especially vulnerable to suicide. These include isolated seniors, youth transitioning to the adult mental health system, parents with young children, middle-aged men, and Indigenous people.
McGregor adds that it’s known that suicide has wide impacts, whether that’s in our families, workplaces or communities, and the Halton Suicide Prevention Coalition has been hard at work with residents in the community for years. Eventually, they decided to take a look at what the next steps would be – and that includes growing, improving, and adapting. That’s where Roots of Hope comes in.
The pandemic has brought the conversation of mental health even further to the forefront. McGregor thinks the last 18-months have opened the eyes of many who either never sought out the discussion of mental health or really realized the importance of it. There are a lot of residents that quickly found themselves struggling with their mental health, and in turn, needed help that they didn’t previously understand that they needed.
If you’re looking for help – either for yourself or someone in your life – or are looking to get involved with the community, McGregor recommends that you check out the Halton Suicide Prevention Coalition website.
Hey, things are changing for us here at MiltonNow.ca! If you have a news tip or story idea, you can now send us a heads up via email at News1013@LocalRadio.ca. If you’d like to get ahold of me personally, shoot me a message at Cameron.Wilkinson@LocalRadio.ca. We’re in the business of content creation, so no idea is a bad idea.
