History

This committee was formed when a group of local residents concerned about suicide in the local area decided that it was time to start to do something.

In the fall of 1994, there was two different initiatives taking place which would come to affect the suicide awareness issue in North Victoria County. They were:

1. Rev. David Campbell had heard from various community members about the desire to do something regarding the high number of suicides in this area. In his congregation were survivors and people who had to deal with suicides. He took the initiative to contact community members to gauge the interest in forming a Committee on Suicide Awareness.

2. At the same time, Youth Aflame Ministries Inc., a local Christian youth charity, had noticed the number of local suicides and made contact with Health Canada regarding a mental health program. With the sponsorship of CHIMO Youth and Family Services Inc. of Lindsay, they were able to obtain assistance in operating a mental health promotion program called Northern Connections.

Together, these two programs have combined to combat the problem of suicides in this area.
 
 

Formation

The Committee had it's first meeting in January 1995. The first members consisted of Lisa (public health nurse), David (pastor), Ross (pastor), Dwayne (funeral director), Heather (registered nurse), John (social worker), Peter (health promotion coordinator), Charlene (survivor), Janet (pharmacy worker), Tim (pastor), and Emily (local businessperson).

David took the initiative to contact each of the above (and others) because of the number of suicides. He invited anyone with an interest to become part of a local initiative. Lisa was able to direct David to CMHA Victoria County who gave him Barb Moffat as a contact from Peterborough.

Each person had there own reasons for being a part of this Committee -

David - "I sensed community frustration with the frequent suicides in the area and felt that a task force should be formed to address this problem."

Charlene - "I personally got involved because I am a survivor of suicide."

Ross - "I was concerned with the high occurrence of suicides and had a desire to give the community information and resources to help with prevention."
 
 

With the structure of the Committee in place with people who were interested and committed, David called a community meeting at the Lion's Hall in March 1995. Barb Moffat from Peterborough came and spoke regarding the issue of suicide and various avenues we could take in regards to combating this in our community.

Some of the initial concerns where in regards to fund-raising, the initiation of a local Telecare line, what resources do we have, etc..?

Out of this meeting the members came up with some plans for future action such as local fund-raising from community groups, contacting Telecare for assistance, checking with CHIMO for an outreach project and plan a Suicide Intervention Workshop.
 
 

Actions

Since the formation of the Committee, the following activities have been undertaken in the local area -

Suicide Intervention Workshops - we have help to workshops with the assistance of barb Moffat. Both were held in Coboconk and had reached full capacity. Some of the local residents trained include the committee members, police, foster parents, pastors and local residents. Fund-raising enabled us to present these workshops at a reduced rate of $35.00/person. Local business and clubs donated the building, refreshments and meeting equipment.

After the first SIW workshop in May 1995, another community meeting was hosted in June 1995 at the local public school in the evening and facilitated by Barb Moffat. Turnout was good and plans were made for a fall SIW workshop.

The fall SIW workshop was then postponed to the Spring of 1996 as the people wanting to take the course could not afford the full amount required. It was felt that to ask the local community groups for assistance at this time would be inappropriate.
 
 

The list of residents completing the SIW workshop was sent to Telecare Lindsay so that they could redirect local concerns to a member who had received training.

The Committee then produced a brochure for distribution in the local community. This was distributed by Northern Connections as part of the ongoing mental health promotion in the area. Northern Connections also produces and distributes a 1000 newsletters in the local area bi-monthly. There are also community information centres in each of the local communities.

The Committee has presented information sessions to local groups -

Sir Sandford Fleming College in Lindsay to its resident advisors,

the Lindsay Pregnancy Crisis Centre at an open community meeting in

Lindsay and at an I.E. Weldon Secondary School class in Lindsay

It is our goal to present information sessions in the local communities and schools.

The Committee also has implemented a local Telecare line in cooperation with Telecare Lindsay and Telecare Peterborough. We received local financial assistance to set up the line and cooperation from a family in Fenelon Falls to set up a site to call forward to Lindsay.

The Committee has informally formed three sub-committees - education, prevention and postvention. One major concern is the lack of survivor support in the area (although Charlene does a lot of this informally),

Future

As noted, we would like to be able to present more information sessions in the local area, especially in the high schools. We have made contacts and are waiting for the opportunity to present sessions.

We would also like to implement a postvention program in the area. Two members, Dwayne and Charlene, have a particular interest in this.

The prevention program is currently being undertaken by Peter and the Northern Connections Health Promotion Project. The Committee will present information in cooperation with NC at local events.

The Committee's fund-raisers have done a good job recently and we now have funds in the account for future activities.
 
 

The Committee is also interested in the direction that the DHC will undertake with its task force. One of our major hurdles on start up was the lack of a clear direction to take for information. Without the help of Barb Moffat, we would not have been able to accomplish what we have done.
 
 

Results

Some of the results that we have seen from this Committee include -

Two SIW workshops with 40 local residents trained in suicide intervention. There have already been numerous incidents where this training has been utilized.

Community meetings where the issue of suicide has been discussed and local residents informed that there is assistance.

In cooperation with Telecare, we have a local toll-free telephone number for Telecare North Victoria.

In cooperation with Northern Connections, we have distributed information throughout the area (over 1000 CMHA brochures and 6,000 newsletters this past year alone plus posters in most of the communities).

A group of local dedicated people have been given training do that we are able to share locally regarding the issue of suicide.

We have seen a reduction in the number of suicides locally. Although we cannot take all the credit for this, members have intervened in numerous situations that may have been fatal.

Local residents are becoming aware that there are local residents who care and are willing to listen and help in their struggles. As the Committee does more community events and becomes more visible, we feel that it has left the message that there are people who care about local resident's needs.

We are now willing to help other communities who would like to tackle this issue and need assistance.