Youth Suicide Prevention Project
(YSPP)
We recently received a grant to create and launch a Youth Suicide Prevention project across the 3C's. The Grant comes from Alberta's commitment to preventing youth suicide and improving the health and well-being of young people. This project will be a rural youth-led initiative that provides training, education, and awareness for front-line workers, families, community members, and youth. The intent is for our target group to recognize the signs of and reduce the stigma associated with mental illness, and provide support to those who are struggling with mental illness, are contemplating or have attempted suicide, and/or who are struggling with loss due to suicide.
If you need to talk
About the Project
In the first year of the project, a set of individuals will be trained as Gatekeeper training instructors, who will subsequently provide this training to youth, community members, front-line workers, teachers, parents, and caregivers in the communities of Castor, Coronation, Consort, Halkirk, Brownfield, Veteran and Altario.
​In year two of the project, a peer support training program will be developed that will consist of 4-6 youth-led sessions on mental health topics that aim to educate youth about mental health, reduce the stigma of mental illness, and provide them with information about resources in their community related to mental health and suicide prevention. Youth will help determine the topics and facilitate each session with the support of project staff.
TRAINING
We are hosting several training opportunities across the 3C’s and surrounding areas for Students, the Public, Schools, and Front Line Workers.
Our 90-minute Gatekeeper sessions are led by a local QPR Instructor. The training will equip the trainee with basic information about suicide, how to spot someone at risk, and what to do or say. The training utilizes QPR (Question, Persuade, and Refer) model and is appropriate for all groups.
RESOURCES
There are many resources available online for Community members, School personnel, Public Health, and other professionals as they work together to prevent Youth Suicide in their communities. The links to publications and other internet resources are from the Government, Educational institutions, or trusted organizations.
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Are you needing more information, or would you like us to provide training to a group, please contact our Youth Suicide Prevention Project Manager Jenna at nhcommunityprojects@gmail.com