Image Credit: File photo / CFJC Today

By Ashley Legassic

MENTAL HEALTH

Kamloops social worker hoping for community input on World Suicide Prevention Day event

May 3, 2019 | 4:59 PM

KAMLOOPS — After a one-year hiatus, a Kamloops social worker is looking to re-start the annual World Suicide Prevention Day event in Kamloops.

Jolene Lindsay of C and C Resources, along with the centre’s owner Mary Widmer, say holding events like memorial walks or presentations in support of suicide prevention and awareness can help end the stigma around mental illness.

“I remember talking to Mary eight years ago maybe, just sitting at a community panel booth at the mall with a big poster that said “Suicide Prevention Day,” and everyone walked around us for five hours,” Lindsay says of the first event. “People would look but they wouldn’t come near, we were just this big black plague sitting there. And I remember sitting there thinking ‘Wow we need to do something, we need to bring this out of the shadows essentially’.”

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Image Credit: CFJC Today

Lindsay says in years prior, lantern walks or panels would be held on September 10, but this year, she’s hoping for the community to pitch in with what they’d like to see.

“Call out to Kamloops, if anyone wants to be a part of that event or has some ideas, or some kind of wishes,” Lindsay says. “We can’t grant them all but we would love to see people from the community telling us what the need is for them this year so we can kind of tailor some things around that hopefully and kind of get people involved that way.”

If you’d like to get in touch with organizers, contact Jolene@candcresources.com.