From PLEO (Parents Lifeline)

On World Suicide Prevention Day, we are so pleased to launch a new resource for Parents of Suicidal Youth.

I hope you will help us share this broadly.

A year ago we began gathering the wisdom and insight of parents with lived experience to guide us on an important project to support parents of suicidal youth. There is a gap in information and services for these parents – one that we were hearing about repeatedly on our helpline. We asked parents to tell us their most pressing questions – what did they need to know to keep their suicidal child safe and alive? These questions were then distilled into five key topics by a focus group of parents: difficulties identifying signs and improving awareness of suicide risk; communicating effectively; knowing what to do in periods of crisis; keeping youth safe at home; and accessing services. The new resource we are so excited to launch today provides answers to these questions – what is most helpful and hopeful – offered by parents and youth with lived experience, clinicians, and suicide prevention experts.

The resources are now available here. (with a full French version to follow shortly).

And here is short trailer to introduce the project.

Please share this broadly. It is a valuable resource for parents – to help better support their suicidal children, for service providers – to better understand and support a whole family, for researchers and policy makers – to continue addressing the gap in knowledge and care.

You can also help spread the word by sharing our posts on facebook, twitter, and linkedin.

This was a huge effort made possible by hundreds of volunteers, colleagues you may recognize in the videos, parents and youth with lived experience who came forward to share their story, and generous support from RBC Foundation, Bell Let’s Talk, and CHEO Foundation.

The voices captured here are an incredible resource. Thank you for your help making sure parents know that there is help and hope, and that they are not alone.

Thanks,

Elyse, Executive Director, PLEO