World Suicide Prevention Day is a global initiative aimed at increasing awareness and breaking the silence about suicide. CMHA Manitoba and Winnipeg is proud to support two Manitoba-based events to honour World Suicide Prevention Day.
1) Mysterious Barricades’ cross-country concert series held on World Suicide Prevention Day, Winnipeg, September 10, 2016.
From sunrise in St John’s NL to sunset in Victoria BC, thirteen free concerts will flow westward throughout the day and feature some of Canada’s finest professionally trained artists and performers.
- This is the first event of its kind and each concert will unfold with its own emcee, its own performers and its own unique local flavour.
- From classical, jazz, new music, folk and aboriginal to choral and spoken word, a total of eighteen hours of concerts will be live streamed.
Winnipeg’s concert will be held at the Canadian Mennonite University from 3:00 pm to 4:30 pm, September 10th. A detailed program can be found at http://www.mysteriousbarricades.org/concerts/
The Mysterious Barricades’ cross-country concert series was founded by Mezza Soprano, Elizabeth Turnbull, whose husband of 27 years died by suicide. This concert series is being held to raise awareness of suicide, suicide prevention and to support those at risk of and impacted by suicide.
- The series is inspired by French baroque composer François Couperin’s 1717 Les Barricades Mystérieuses (The Mysterious Barricades).
- With this concert project organizers hope to raise the level of discussion and awareness surrounding the mysterious barricades between mental illness and health, between the darkness of depression and the light of hope, between life and death.
“CMHA is a proud partner of this event. This concert series is a great way to bring together people from around the country in support of better mental health and to raise awareness about the important suicide prevention services and supports that exist in Manitoba”, says Marion Cooper, Executive Director of CMHA Manitoba and Winnipeg.
2) World Suicide Prevention Day to be honoured in Vimy Ridge Park, Winnipeg, September 9, 2016.
CMHA Manitoba and Winnipeg joins the Winnipeg Suicide Prevention Network, Klinic Community Health, and Reason to Live to honour World Suicide Prevention Day at Vimy Ridge Park from 12:00 pm to 12:45 pm, September 9th.
World Suicide Prevention Day brings together people with lived experience of a mental health issue, their families, policy makers, advocates, researchers and others who come together on this day to raise awareness and share strategies to prevent the tragedy of suicide.
More than 800,000 people worldwide – including about 4,000 Canadians – die by suicide every year. World Suicide Prevention Day is presented annually by the International Association for Suicide Prevention to spread awareness and break the silence about this issue. This year’s theme, ‘Connect, Communicate, Care’ captures the heart of suicide prevention.
“World Suicide Prevention Day is a great way to raise awareness for our recommendation for a national suicide prevention strategy. Canada remains one of the few industrialized countries that has yet to implement the recommendations of the World Health Organization and the United Nations to establish a national suicide prevention strategy.” Marion Cooper, Executive Director of CMHA Manitoba and Winnipeg.
About CMHA: Suicide prevention is a priority for CMHA across Canada and we support community-based suicide prevention efforts in many different ways in the various communities in which we serve.
- We provide mental health education in the community, workplaces and school with the goal of addressing stigma and misunderstanding about mental illness and mental health distress.
- We work to improve mental health literacy amongst service providers, youth workers and educators through delivery of programs such as Mental Health First Aid and Safetalk, which enhance resilience and coping skills.
- We delivery programs that teach skills and strategies that promote psychological, social, cultural and emotional well-being including Living Life to the Full, Mental Health Education for Families and Youth Mental Health Summits.
- We support the development Social Networks that reduce social isolation.
- We promote programs like Sources of Strength to address youth suicide and the establishment of positive peer relationships and leadership.
About CMHA Manitoba and Winnipeg: CMHA Manitoba and Winnipeg works toward a single vision: mentally healthy people in a healthy society. As a champion for mental health, CMHA Manitoba and Winnipeg exists so that all Manitobans are mentally healthy and people experiencing mental illness have support for their resilience and recovery. We aim to be the very best at helping people with mental illness become full participants in society and creating understanding for all to be mentally healthy.
CMHA Manitoba and Winnipeg offers suicide awareness training such as safeTalk and Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training (ASIST) workshops, as well as offer crisis intervention and prevention services to the local community.
For Media inquiries contact Terra Johnston, CMHA Manitoba and Winnipeg, at tjohnston@cmhawpg.mb.ca