Children’s Centre Thunder Bay, Dilico Anishinabek Family Care, and the Thunder Bay Catholic District School Board have come together to recognize World Suicide Prevention Day.
An event was held at Waverley Park on Friday, the theme this year being “creating hope through action.”
Michelle Bak, Program Manager with Dilico Anishinabek Family Care, discussed the importance of the event.
“With World Suicide Prevention Day, we really want to take the opportunity to raise awareness, remove stigma, let youth and service providers know in our community there are supports and help available,” explains Bak. “There’s no shame in asking for help, and there’s a ton of services readily available.”
During the gathering, the three organizations involved re-launched the BeSafe mobile app.
Originally released in 2016, it is designed to help youth experiencing issues to be able to access support within the community.
Katie Matthews, Mental Health Lead with the Thunder Bay Catholic District School Board, explains more about the app, explaining that it has multiple elements to it.
“One piece is around local resources, so it’s just a resource listing where they can see all of the different types of social service resources they might want to access in town,” says Matthews. “Another piece is about actually accessing who they should reach out to, so there’s a series of questions that it will go through when they ask for help now. Another element of it is the safety planning resource, so that’s actually something that youth can complete with a mental health worker or another supportive adult, that helps them capture their own personal health information in case they ever need it and they couldn’t communicate it to someone else.”
Matthews says the app has undergone significant changes since the original launch, and is more accessible and effective than ever.
Program Manager with Children’s Centre Thunder Bay Angela Hill says she hopes the app is utilized by as many groups as possible.
“The app that we’re supporting, we want it to be used by all of our community partners,” explains Hill. “Whether you’re working in an Indigenous friendship center, or a school, this is an app that any person can use to sit down with a youth and create a safety plan to talk about the resources. We’re hoping that we share this app with our community partners so they use it in all places that they’re meeting with Indigenous youth.”
Studies have shown an increase in mental health issues, especially since the start of the pandemic. In the past year and a half there has been a significant increase in suicide ideation and attempts for Ontario students has risen.
World Suicide Prevention Day is held annually on Sept. 10.
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