World Suicide Prevention Day 2013

Today marks the 2013 World Suicide Prevention Day, so I thought the best way to commemorate this day is to raise some awareness around this topic.

Here are a few important information to know about suicide worldwide:

• 5% of the global population is estimated to attempt suicide in their life time
• 1 million people are estimated to commit suicide each year (That's 1 in every 40 seconds)

Mental Illness, such as depression, can lead to suicide. In fact, suicide is the second leading cause of death among our youth (15-24) in Canada.

These are tragic numbers considering suicide is something that we can prevent. As the theme of this year states, "Stigma is one of the major barriers to suicide prevention." The treatments are out there, but stigma prevents them from seeking treatment.

One of the main goals of designing our therapy programs at CIMHS was to combat the stigma that exists in our society. That's why we designed our Bliss Depression Therapy program to be confidential, so even if people are reluctant to seek help they can still get the crucial information they need anonymously to combat their depressed mood.

Please take time some time today to remember those we lost due to suicide and do your part for spreading some awareness around this debilitating issue in our society.

Below is the official president's message from the International Association for Suicide Prevention (IASP), the organization that organized "World Suicide Prevention Day" in collaboration with World Health Organization (WHO):

Sincerely,

Kasra Zokaei

Founder and Executive Director

CIMHS