Media Coverage of Suicide, Faith & Spirituality Workshop

Faith Leaders Discuss Suicide

Written by Cory Knutt/Al Friesen on Thursday, 17 October 2013 

Suicide prevention is a topic that is difficult for many people to discuss, as there is often a stigma related to suicide and mental health issues.

Eden Health Care Services presented a workshop Thursday to help bring those topics to light. The seminar entitled "Suicide, Faith, and Spirituality, Toward a Fuller Understanding" examined the issue from a faith perspective from individuals who have lived the experience of dealing with a family members suicide. Clinicians who deal with survivors were also part of the discussion along with spiritual leaders who deal with families who have lost loved ones.

Ron Falk is the Director of Spiritual Care for Eden Health Care Services. He says issues surrounding mental health and spirituality are closely related.

"That's who we are as an organization," he said. "It's what we believe firmly that the two are very much connected. Spirituality is just a part of who we are and also it's a sense of integrating within each individual the whole person."

Falk, who is a member of the health region's suicide prevention committee, said even people with a strong spiritual foundation deal with these issues in one form or another.

Featured speakers at the event included Chris Summerville, the Executive Director of Manitoba Schizophrenia Society and Tim Wall of Klinic Community Health Centre and who is the Executive Director of the Canadian Association for Suicide Prevention.

The workshop was open to pastors, leaders, care-givers and anyone else who might benefit from information and support related to mental health issues and suicide prevention.

Suicide, Faith and Spirituality

Written by Dantin Reimer on Saturday, 26 October 2013 

Last week Eden Health Care Services held a Suicide, Faith, and Spirituality seminar at the Morden Access Event Centre. The Executive Director of the Manitoba Schizophrenia Society, Chris Summerville was the keynote speaker.

"Certainly we sometimes simplify suicide as being just a result of depression, but we know it's multifactorial," said Summerville. "It can be a result of trauma, pain, and obviously mental illness can be a part of it, but it's so complex. Fundamentally it's a loss of hope, sense of helplessness, hopelessness, meaninglessness. In fact some people call it the great existential despair, in which a person has lost a sense of meaning and purpose in life."

When it comes to suicide, there are a number of "if only's". Some of these include, if only the pain would go away, if only there wasn't the violence by my partner, if only there was a return of my culture, which we think about when talking about indigenous peoples.

"Spirituality is all about connections, as well as to creation, creator, and creatures. Healthy spirituality has been demonstrated by researchers to be a protective factor in safe guarding one against suicide. We know the scriptures, Old and New Testament, give much hope. That our sense of meaning, purpose, comfort comes from a healthy spirituality, which gives us purpose and meaning." said Summerville.

Summerville noted the Bible doesn't judge when it comes to suicide.

According to Summerville suicide isn't an individual thing, rather a community experience. "We need safety management plans in our communities. School supports, support groups, mentoring groups for mothers, young mothers especially, for people who are in the justice system, and psychological safety in the work place. Sometimes life can be so tough and so despairing that people are thinking of killing themselves. If we build those safety management plans in communities, then certainly suicide rates can go down," said Summerville.

He stated we don't say committed suicide, the proper term is completed suicide, and added there is no successful suicide. Summerville noted words have the power to harm or heal.

Companionship is key to preventing people from completing the unthinkable.

According to Summerville, people who commit suicide are not just every day people, sometimes public figures may think and or complete the actions of suicide.