World Health Organization statistics show Canada's suicide rate is 15 per 100,000 people. In the Ottawa area alone, as many as 100 people die from suicide each year.

There are many risk factors for suicide - often a combination of individual, relationship, community, and societal factors that can include alcohol and substance use, barriers to accessing mental health treatment, unwillingness to seek help due to the stigma, and local 'suicide contagion' - the idea that someone else’s suicide (within one's family, one's peer group, or through media reports of suicide) can increase your risk of suicide — “especially among younger adolescents” (Coleman, I. et al 2013).

Every suicide is a tragedy and many people in the community are emotionally impacted in some way. New research suggests that every suicide directly affects 65-115 people (Cerel, J. et al 2016). Those impacted can be:

family and friends;
co-workers/classmates
sports club teammates;
staff members/clients of a helping agency;
neighbours; and
and many others

For those impacted by suicide, talking about one’s feelings is an important part of the grieving process. Ottawa’s Post Suicide Support Team (PSST) offers free and mobile support that gives people the chance to talk about their thoughts, feelings and experiences. However, this important community support is seriously underutilized.

What are we doing about it?

Suicide postvention (supports made available after a suicide occurs to ease its impact on survivors of loss by suicide) has many proven benefits, including assisting survivors of suicide loss to get through the grieving process and preventing future suicide.

The Post Suicide Support Team (PSST) was created in Ottawa as part of the Canadian Mental Health Association’s initiative to provide local support to anyone who needs it following a suicide in the community. The PSST consists of volunteer professionals from the health, mental health, and social service sectors. PSST offers free, mobile support for those who are not family members and who may not be served by existing programs.

The Ottawa Suicide Prevention Coalition* and the Provincial System Support Program (PSSP) at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) have partnered to ensure that the Post Suicide Support Team is:

properly supported to quickly and safely respond to the needs of the community;
aligned with evidence-informed best practices;
more visible and accessed by the community through consistent communication strategies and engagement tools (a PSST video, community PowerPoint presentation, program brochure); and
evaluated on an on-going basis through regular participant evaluation review.

*The Ottawa Suicide Prevention Coalition, which is made up of a network of organizations and individuals dedicated to eliminating suicide, acts as an oversight committee to the PSST.

Exploration
Installation
Initial Implementation
Full Implementation

?What's this?

Exploration

While the Ottawa PSST has been operating for many years, the objective of this project was to pinpoint key activities and processes to extend their reach and improve local effectiveness. The CAMH implementation team worked with the Ottawa Suicide Prevention Coalition and the PSST to identify the evidence on suicide postvention program awareness building; they built a list of multi-sector stakeholders who could be the point of contact for community members bereaved by suicide and who were able to inform the current state of postvention support; and as a group, identify the best way to improve support and effectiveness of the Ottawa Post Suicide Support Team.

Initial Implementation

The Ottawa Suicide Prevention Coalition, with help from the Provincial System Support Program at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, updated training and promotional resources, and developed sustainable evaluation and communications strategies to support the work of the Post Suicide Support Team.

I’m more proud and able to stand by [the PSST] now that we’ve thought through everything and then some. I am confident that this can help people and it’s the right thing to do.
— Member, Ottawa Suicide Prevention Coalition

This work could influence agency policies and we will be looking for opportunities to disseminate this across the province
— Member, Ottawa Suicide Prevention Coalition

Who is involved?

The Ottawa Suicide Prevention Coalition has brought together partners from diverse sectors, including community, public health, police, mental health and addictions, crisis supports, and primary care, along with community members.

Bereaved Families of Ontario – Ottawa Region
Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA), Ottawa branch
Community Suicide Prevention Network
Distress Centre of Ottawa and Region
Geriatric Psychiatry Community Services of Ottawa
Mobile Crisis Team, The Ottawa Hospital
Ottawa Community Support Coalition
Ottawa Police Service
Ottawa Public Health
Private Psychologist
Salvation Army Ottawa Booth Centre
South East Ottawa Community Health Centre
Western Ottawa Community Resource Centre
Youth Net/Réseau Ado
Youth Services Bureau
Community members

Next Steps

CMHA Ottawa is in the process of recruiting new Post Suicide Support Team members and will be facilitating training for new and returning members in early 2017. The Coalition will be supporting a communications strategy to disseminate new PSST promotional products and engage the community to enhance access to the program.

Resources

The Ottawa Suicide Prevention Coalition (includes video)
PSST video

For more information, please contact:

Meghann Darroch, Regional Implementation Coordinator
Meghann.Darroch@camh.ca
613-569-6024 ext. 78213

Renée Ouimet, Coordinator, Ottawa Suicide Prevention Coalition
Canadian Mental Health Association, Ottawa Branch
rouimet@cmhaottawa.ca
613-737-7791 ext.124

CAMH PSSP

Community Post Suicide Support

What is the system gap?