According to the World Health Organization report: Preventing Suicide: A Global Imperative, over 800,000 people die by suicide each year, globally, and many more attempt suicide. The impact on families, friends and communities is far-reaching for many years forward. In public health, suicide often fails to be prioritized as a major problem and despite an increase in research and understanding about suicide, the stigma around suicide prevents people from seeking help when needed and health systems services often fail to provide timely and effective help.
This year’s World Suicide Prevention Day will be marked by the theme Preventing Suicide: Reaching Out and Saving Lives. The Mental Health Innovation Network and the LSE Health are hosting a seminar - “Preventing Suicide in Low Resource Settings” - to honour this day. The seminar will bring together a distinguished panel of experts with experience in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Speakers will discuss their experiences of developing successful suicide prevention interventions and national-level suicide prevention guidelines in low resource settings.
We would be delighted to invite you to the seminar. Attendance to this event is free, but please register here.
Attendance to this event is free, but please register here: http://goo.gl/kZ1j1F
Programme:
Moderator: Professor Ricardo Araya | Professor of Global Mental Health and Co-Director of the Centre for Global Mental Health at London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine
Speakers: Dr Jason Bantjes | Lecturer, Department of Psychology at Stellenbosch University in South Africa
Dr Bantjes will provide a brief overview of the research that is needed to develop suicide prevention interventions based on his experiences working in a hospital based environment. He will also highlight the mismatch between the needs of suicide attempters and current services in South Africa and will call attention to the need for greater psychological input and hospital-based suicide prevention interventions that can be offered to patients without necessitating hospital admissions.
Dr Erminia Colucci | Lecturer, Centre of Psychiatry at Queen Mary University of London in the UK
Through a recent collaboration between a panel of Sri Lankan experts, the Global and Cultural Mental Health Unit at the University of Melbourne, and Mental Health First Aid, Sri Lanka saw the development of its first set of guidelines for suicide prevention. Dr Colucci was a key driving force through this process and will be launching the guidelines during her presentation.
Presentations will be followed by an opportunity for questions from the audience.