Roots of Hope logo (photo courtesy Mental Health Commision of Canada)

By Teagan Rasche

Roots of Hope

New suicide prevention program coming to southeast Alberta

Sep 8, 2021 | 4:37 PM

MEDICINE HAT, AB – A new program aimed at preventing death by suicide will soon be available to people in southeast Alberta.

The Suicide Prevention Coalition of Southeast Alberta will be implementing the program, called Roots of Hope.

Roots of Hope was started by the Mental Health Commission of Canada. It’s multi-site and community-led, aimed at reducing and eliminating suicide within the region.

Medicine Hat is one of 10 early adopters from across Canada to implement the program and was selected because there are a lot of groups that are especially vulnerable to suicide. Including isolated seniors, youth transitioning to the adult mental health system, parents with young children, middle-aged men and Indigenous people.

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The program is something Breanne Mellen with Southeast Alberta’s Regional Suicide Prevention Coalition is happy to implement here.

“Roots of Hope provides a framework, kind of divided up into five separate pillars that will kind of guide actions of our coalition to help reduce suicide,” Mellen said.

Roots of Hope is not a one-size-fits-all program. The five pillars are specialized support, training and networks, public awareness campaigns, means safety and research.

Communities will customize the pillars for their area’s needs.

Mellen says one of the things they plan to do is train doctors, nurses, psychologists and psychiatrists in suicide intervention and prevention strategies.

“We should be thinking about our friends, our families. Are they safe? Are they happy? Are they healthy?” Mellen said. “Building hope in the community is kind of what we are aiming to do and we have seen a lot of hopelessness through the pandemic. So through Roots of Hope we are hoping to bring that back and build more resiliency and capacity for understanding suicide and mental illness within our community.”

Mellen says part of the Roots of Hope campaign will start to pop on billboards and in leaflets across the community.