New Provincial Suicide Risk Reduction Framework for the Best Practice and Culturally Safe Approach to Suicide Risk Reduction

Click to access SuicidePrevention_Framework.pdf

A new Provincial Suicide Risk Reduction Framework has been released.

From the framework:

“The purpose of the Provincial Suicide Risk Reduction Framework is to outline a best practice and culturally safe approach to suicide risk reduction based on research evidence, Indigenous ways of knowing, expert guidance, and successes elsewhere. The framework is intended to be used by clinicians and to:
• Encourage implementation of standardized screening, management strategies, and follow-up care of individuals at risk for suicide
• Promote consistency across care settings in suicide risk reduction approaches
• Offer practical ways cultural safety can be enacted in practice with Indigenous people experiencing mental health crises, and
• Ultimately, reduce suicide deaths among individuals who have been seen in emergency departments and specialized Mental Health and Substance Use (MHSU) service settings in British Columbia (BC).”

HeadsUpGuys.org – Men’s Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Resource

A program of the University of British Columbia HeadsUpGuys – https://headsupguys.org offers resources for men’s mental health including 

  • Information about depression in men 
  • Information about suicide in men
  • Self-checks for depression 
  • Resources for self-care – including self-guided courses 
  • How to reach out for help 
  • Articles and stories of others who have gone through this 
  • Recourses for friends and family 

Free Talk by BCMHSUS on ‘Demystifying Bipolar Disorder’ on Feb 13th

FROM BCMHSUS:


BC Mental Health and Substance Use Services is coming back to you with their quarterly Demystifying Concurrent Disorders Webinar Series to help patients, clients and families better understand the complex world of concurrent disorders.

Our next webinar session will be on ‘Demystifying Bipolar Disorder’ and will take place via Zoom on Feb. 13 from 2-3:30 p.m. PST.

Hosted by Laurie Edmundson (senior leader, Patient Experience and Community Engagement at BCMHSUS), we will have three expert panelists who bring a diversity of perspectives, including clinical, research, and lived and living experience:
• Kagan Goh is a lived experience partner is a Vancouver-based Chinese Canadian multidisciplinary Mad Artist: award-winning filmmaker, published author, spoken word poet, playwright, actor, curator, mental health advocate and activist.
• Victoria Maxwell is a lived experience strategic advisor with BCMHSUS and is recognized international keynote speaker who uses her personal story of recovery from mental illness to increase awareness, transform negative beliefs and ignite powerful conversations about mental health.
• Dr. Ivan Torres is a clinical neuropsychologist, clinical professor in the Department of Psychiatry at UBC, and research scientist at BCMHSUS.

Register to join the discussion on Feb. 13: https://ow.ly/RwRs50UOl3z

CMHA REPORT ‘The State of Mental Health in Canada 2024’

Reposted summary from CPA:

The CMHA has released their report ‘The State of Mental Health in Canada 2024’, which finds:

• The mental health of Canadians is three times worse than before the pandemic, and millions of people can’t get the care they need. Suicides, particularly in the north, and the toxic drug supply are claiming lives at an alarming rate.
• No province or territory is spending enough on mental health, in part because they’re not obliged to. On average, provinces and territories are only spending 6.3% of their overall health budgets on mental health. They should be spending 12%.
• People receive drastically different care depending on their home province or territory, and are doing worse in some places, including in the north and in rural areas.
• Shortages of psychiatrists and other mental health workers mean people aren’t getting care when and where they need it.
• It’s not a flashy topic, but we need more data about mental health! You can’t fix what you don’t measure, and Canada is failing to collect information about the mental health system and the ways it affects us.

Full report: www.cmha.ca/somh

Highlights: https://lnkd.in/e2gX9kq4

Summary: https://lnkd.in/ev-NAzZ9

Anxiety Canada MindShift Low-Cost CBT Group Intake Open for Group in October 2024

Anxiety Canada is offering a low-cost CBT group in October 2024.

WHAT THEY ARE OFFERING

Evidence-Based Anxiety Therapy Groups

MindShift CBT Groups is an 8-session online group therapy program for small groups of adults (aged 18+) with mild to moderate anxiety using cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT). Groups are a maximum size of 12 and provide people with support, encouragement, and tools to help them cope better.

What You’ll Learn

  • How anxiety works and why people experience it
  • How to manage anxiety using Anxiety Canada’s free MindShift CBT app
  • Behavioural strategies to help reorient thinking, take action, and make lasting positive change

MindShift CBT Groups meet online via Zoom for 8 x 1.5 hour weekly sessions with a registered clinical counsellor. This program is currently available in English.

For full details see here.

FREE Online Career Counselling Opportunity for Clients in Recovery from Problematic Substance Use in BC and Alberta

Dr. Robinder Bedi and his team at UBC are conducting a study providing FREE career counselling for clients with problematic substance use histories. The counselling is online in a group format, facilitated by RCC/CCCs who are training to be psychologists. Each group runs for 8 weeks, and participants are paid to complete a series of questionnaires before and after the groups for a total of $160 possible. Participants need to reside in BC or Alberta and be 19 years of age or older.

Recruitment is ongoing and will continue throughout 2024-2025. If you know someone who could participate or would like to participate yourself, please reach out to the research team at bedi.lab1@ubc.ca or 778-401-3078 to learn more, or complete a contact questionnaire (https://bit.ly/CareerStudyContact) and someone from the team will reach out with more information.