World Suicide Prevention Day will be honoured in Nanaimo on Sunday, Sept. 8, while the official day is Sept. 10. (Dreamstime)

By Jordan Davidson

changing the narrative

‘People have been struggling:’ Nanaimo event part of World Suicide Prevention Day

Sep 8, 2024 | 6:17 AM

NANAIMO — Around a dozen people die by suicide every day in Canada, and a special event on Sunday wants to ensure those suffering aren’t alone.

World Suicide Prevention Day will be honoured in Nanaimo on Sunday, Sept. 8, starting with a locally produced documentary and finishing the day at Maffeo Sutton Park.

Hosted by the Vancouver Island Crisis Society (VICS), the theme this year is all about changing the narrative around suicide and fostering safe places to speak openly, said community awareness coordinator Neil Cutler.

“People have been struggling…and we want to raise the awareness that people aren’t alone. This is not only for somebody who’s feeling suicidal or has gone through their own personal experiences, but it’s also for those that have lost somebody to suicide, and that’s probably the strongest reason for doing it.”

A documentary will start the events at 1:00 p.m. in the conference room at the Best Western Dorchester Hotel (70 Church St.), followed by a community walk through Maffeo Sutton Park and a symbolic bubble release.

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While approximately 4,500 Canadians die by suicide every year, more than 200 people attempt suicide every day, according to Statistics Canada.

Worldwide, approximately 720,000 people die by suicide every year according to the World Health Organization.

Suicide also has a significant effect on the loved ones of the affected, which Cutler said makes dealing with grief following a suicide more complex than other losses.

“The complexities around the grief that is caused because it also contains shame, it contains stigma. We like to provide a space where people know they’re not alone in that experience…they’re not the only ones experiencing that.”

The documentary, Through the Shadowlands, created by Gabriola Island filmmakers Anastasia Hirst and John Fulton, explores the impacts on mental health and therapeutic benefits of equine therapy.

However, the film moved in another direction following the loss of Hirst’s father to suicide while it was being produced, said Cutler.

“It’s this intertwining of the horses and the support that horses give, and the coregulation aspect that sometimes can be so crazy, so difficult to interpret, that other beings, animals, horses especially, can help in that traumatic state that can happen after a loss to suicide.”

Since launching in Nov. of 2023, the 988 Suicide Crisis Hotline has fielded over 233,000 interactions through phone calls or text messages.

Cutler said 988 can be thought of as the 911 for mental health.

“It’s an umbrella number that sends any call or text to their local partner. 988 is for somebody who’s needing that extra support, suicidal thoughts, those kinds of things, even mental health support.”

The VICS offers a suicide bereavement peer support group and counselling, free of charge. for more information, email info@vicrisis.ca.

If you or someone you know is struggling with thoughts of suicide, help is available. Call 9-8-8 or 1-888- 494-3888 to speak with someone 24/7. For those who prefer texting, text 9-8-8 anytime, day or night.

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