NEWS RELEASE
SIMCOE COUNTY SUICIDE AWARENESS COUNCIL
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The Simcoe County Suicide Awareness Council was formed approximately 10 years ago to meet the needs of the community regarding suicide support. Our council includes members of the community, mental health professionals, and survivors of suicide loss. Our goals include prevention, intervention/awareness and post-vention.
Post-vention: Our council partnered with Georgian College and Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA) to bring a program to our area called “Skills for Safer Living." This 20-week, evidence-based program is for those who have made two suicide attempts, and provides support to live safer lives. The program is currently managed through the CMHA in Barrie.
Regarding intervention/awareness, our council hosts days through the year to provide education and awareness around the issues related to suicide. Some of our members are SafeTALK and/or ASIST trained, (which are suicide awareness/intervention trainings). We also host a Walk for Suicide Awareness each year, and just completed our ninth walk in May of this year.
One of the days we honour is Sept. 10, which is International Suicide Prevention and Awareness Day. Our goal is to donate a bench/tree to all communities in our county.
For the past three years we have used Sept. 10 as the day to do this, and we have donated to Barrie, Midland and Angus thus far. This donation is also meant to inform communities of our existence and support for those struggling with suicidal issues.
To provide post-vention support, for those who are suicide loss survivors, we run a 10-week Survivors of Suicide Loss program in the spring in Orillia, in the fall in Barrie, and have just trained volunteers to run a group in Midland and Huntsville. This program has run for over 28 years in Orillia alone.
This year, on Sept. 10, our council will be donating a memorial bench and four boxwood bushes to the OPP in their Pathway of Memories. This is in honour of those we have lost to suicide, including our family members, friends, coworkers, neighbours, and first responders which include our police services, military, ambulance and firefighters.
This dedication will take place at the Pathways of Memories, OPP Headquarters, 777 Memorial Ave. Orillia at 11 a.m. (rain or shine) Tuesday, Sept. 10.
We are honoured to have OPP Commissioner Thomas Carrique, OPPA President Rob Jamieson and our Mayor Steve Clarke join us for a brief ceremony and ribbon cutting.
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