Canadian Research and Knowledge Translation Agenda on Suicide

Effective ways for everybody to participate in suicide prevention

There is a misperception that suicide prevention is something that only health professionals can do. But there are things that everyone can do to help prevent suicides, and a dearth of evidence about effective ways to engage the whole community in preventing suicides.

How do we get people to understand that suicide is not a cowards way out?

Most often I hear people are weak, cowards, or looking for an easy way out. I find these responses very judgemental and stigmatizing. How do we educate our community that individuals are experiencing intense pain, whether it is physical, mental, emotional, etc.

How can communities help prevent suicide?

What initiatives have been taken within First Nation communities towards suicide prevention, other than mainstream prevention?

Have communities themselves been empowered to address suicide within their communities? If so? How?

Can workplace regulations play a greater role in suicide prevention?

Individuals in a precarious mental state can easily be pushed to a breaking point by small stressors. Even the smallest of stressors such as reprisal for tardiness can be the critical trigger. With one-third of our lives spent at work, the opportunities are rife for these stressors to arise. Countries such as Denmark and Norway, where the mentality is more "work-to-live" than "live-to-work" as it is in North America, rate significantly higher in workplace satisfaction and have healthier, happier populations overall.

Workshops, webinars, presentations

Accessible documents that allow for various populations to access research findings and implement their suggestions

There is always a gap in time between the creation of knowledge and the implementation of that knowledge. This gap may be in part due to the difficulty of access to research findings by those outside of academic circles. Relevant research findings should not be available only to those with paid access to peer-reviewed journal articles or the ability to attend conferences. A knowledge transfer plan for suicide research findings should include free public access to information in various forms, such as online materials and print materials in accessible language. By working together to close the knowledge transfer gap, we can quicken the uptake of new, evidence-based practices, and overall improve the ability of communities at large to strengthen suicide prevention efforts.

Educational material and fact sheets

Hit me with some TED talks with a small smattering of peer-reviewed articles, easily digestible information with a lot of meat

Summaries of research findings, information sheets, with original research studies well cited. Both online and print materials.