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No shame in seeking help The executive director of the Embrace Life Council talks about progress on the Nunavut Suicide Prevention Strategy Action Plan
Miranda Scotland
Northern News Services
Published Monday, September 9, 2013
NUNAVUT
Your problems are becoming more and more overwhelming and it seems as though nothing can help.
The Embrace Life Council, including its executive director Jenny Tierney, is working with the Red Cross to bring Be Safe kits to schools in Nunavut. The kit has tools to teach children about sexual abuse in a non-scary way. - Miranda Scotland/NNSL photo |
You feel no one understands you and nobody cares.
At times you think suicide is the only way out of the darkness. But it's not.
What if you reached out to someone and told them how you feel instead? What if, instead, you asked for help?
Too often, people think they're weak for seeking assistance when they're struggling mentally, said Jenny Tierney, executive director of the Embrace Life Council.
"But one of the strongest things people can do is ask for help."
Those people are courageous and heroic, she added, saying they should be applauded.
In Cambridge Bay, the stigma of going to the wellness centre is strong and it's keeping people from getting better, said Harry Maksagak, program co-ordinator at the centre.
But that mindset is beginning to change and people are starting to awaken, he said.
"I believe very strongly that people are beginning to become more aware that we're not invincible, that a touch of pain hits us in one form or another."
This week, Cambridge Bay residents are gathering for Embrace Life Week.
A suicide prevention walk is being held Sept. 10 followed by a presentation on grief and stigma Sept 12.
The Embrace Life Council is also hosting a candlelight vigil in Iqaluit in support of World Suicide Prevention Day on Sept. 10. The event will take place at Iqaluit Square at 8 p.m.
Candles will be provided but Iqalummiut can bring their own. Coffee and hot chocolate will be provided inside the elder's qammaq.
"There is hope out there and it's just a matter of saying, 'Well I've got to grab the bull by the horns and I've got to stand up and start looking or seeking or talking'," said Maksagak.
It's no secret that suicide is a major issue in Nunavut.
In a Statistics Canada health profile published in January, Nunavut was recorded as having 52.2 suicides or self-inflicted injury deaths per 100,000 people.
The overall total for Canada was 10.2 per 100,000 people.
In response to the high rate of suicide in the territory, the government and community partners released the Nunavut Suicide Prevention Strategy Action Plan in 2011.
The parties involved - the GN, Nunavut Tunngavik Inc., the Embrace Life Council and the RCMP - have been making efforts to move forward with the commitments but they aren't likely to see the fruits of their labour for years, said Tierney.
At this point a lot the work is about laying the foundation for the future, she added.
On the council's side, they brought together a group of community based counsellors and mental health professionals in the territory for a meeting.
"The point of it was to try to find a common standard we can be using across Nunavut," said Tierney.
Participants also used the time to share techniques and consider ways to merge traditional Inuit counselling practices with Western medicine.
The council plans to hold a similar meeting again this fall. The next step will be to determine what supports community counsellors need and find ways to give it to them.
Another area the council is focusing on is youth supports. They have begun work with the Red Cross to pilot a violence prevention program in Baker Lake, Cape Dorset and Clyde River.
Training will be provided to certain community members over the next month and by October, those people will be ready to put on workshops in their area.
The purpose of the RespectEd program is to teach youth about bullying, violence prevention, what abuse is and what is and isn't acceptable in a healthy relationship, said Tierney.
The Red Cross with the council's help will also be providing schools with Be Safe kits for students aged five to 9.
The kit is used to teach children about sexual abuse through lessons on topics such as body safety.
The council has also completed or started a number of its other commitments from the strategy, said Tierney.
Meanwhile, the GN has some major tasks to tackle.
Tierney said she would like to see them move on the early childhood items soon.
"Unless we start putting the foundation in, we're not going to be where we want to be," she said.
The GN has committed to supporting and enhancing Early Childhood Development programs, developing Inuit-specific programming in daycare curriculum and creating a social and emotional learning curriculum, among other tasks.
Although the government and its partners have agreed to take the lead on solving the issue of suicide, Nunavummiut still need to play a part.
People need to break the silence and start talking about issues. Everyone should feel comfortable reaching
out, said Tierney.
Residents can also help each other by being observant, said Maksagak.
Look for signs that somebody might be having a hard time and step up.
Look at their body language, dress, colour of skin and weight. If they stop engaging with people, there might be trouble. Or if they start giving away their valuables or selling expensive items for next to nothing, that could signal an issue too, he said.
"When you start to see that, that's when you say, 'Hey Tom, let's go have a coffee,' or 'Come down, I have some fresh meat, or whatever.' 'Come have a bite with me,' or something like that just to kind of start the conversation. Then we can take it from there," said Maksagak.
"As humans, we have that ability of observing. We have that ability of recognizing some things if we would stop for moment and try it. It's amazing what comes out of that."
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