On the topic of suicidality, our staff undergo first aid mental health training in order to be able to respond to suicide or suicidal ideation. Specifically on our programs, all of our facilitators are registered mental health professionals—either psychologists or registered clinical counsellors—and the peer supporters, the paraprofessionals I mentioned earlier, the veterans who work alongside our psychologists, undergo specialized training with our organization as well.
In terms of how we address suicide, we address it largely through the reduction of symptoms and distress that would give somebody suicidal ideation. Our program is designed to address post-traumatic stress, depression and anxiety, but also isolation.
We see very often that for those who are struggling with suicidal ideation, they are perhaps suffering with depression or post-traumatic stress, but what we also see very often is moral injury: either witnessing or engaging in something in the line of service that runs core to who they believe they are and their values as a person. This injury is particularly nefarious, because it produces an enormous amount of shame in the individual who suffers from this. Shame leads to isolation, and isolation leads to a lack of peer support, and all of this leads down the line towards suicide.
Our intervention is designed to bring people together in a group, to get them comfortable with one another and to teach them skills for understanding why these experiences are affecting them the way they do. If we create a safe environment, these individuals can share with one another some of these difficult moments in these stories. They can reduce that shame, reduce the isolation and learn skills to cope. They go out into the world after the program with a peer support network of those individuals they took the program with.
That is our approach to reducing suicidality.
In terms of how our coordinators or our staff would respond to medical assistance in dying, they have been instructed not to discuss it with anybody who brings it up. If they are asked, they must refer the person to a physician or a primary health provider.