Life promotion and suicide prevention
System leaders have a central role in building, sustaining, and monitoring organizational conditions for effective practice in life promotion and suicide prevention.
Know the facts
Youth Suicide in Canada
Suicide is the second leading cause of death amongst youth and young adults in Canada, accounting for 17-20% of mortality in this age range. Statistics Canada 2020
- In Ontario, one-in-six students report serious thoughts of suicide (OSDUHS 2023).
- Suicidal ideation is more common amongst those who identify as females than males. Death by suicide is 2.5 times more common amongst males (Statistics Canada 2021).
- Although rates of self-reported mental distress have increased since 2000, the percentage of suicide attempts and rates of death by suicide have been relatively stable over time.
Impacts of the Social Determinants of Health and Marginalization
Rates of suicide are highest among young people who have been disadvantaged by the social determinants of health.
For example:
- Youth living in the poorest households were least likely to report good-to-excellent mental health, and more likely to indicate that they have seriously contemplated suicide (Statistics Canada, 2021).
- The prevalence of suicide among Indigenous Peoples in Canada is high and disproportionate to the Canadian population at large and has remained stable and in some places worsened (Ansloos, 2018).
- 2S/LGBTQIA+ youth are also at increased risk for suicide (Centre for Suicide Prevention, 2018).
Learn more about youth suicide prevention, intervention and postvention
Suicide Prevention and Life Promotion in Schools: A national guide for system leaders
Suicide Prevention and Life Promotion in Schools – A National Guide for System Leaders is designed to help system leaders and mental health leadership teams to understand and implement the core elements of effective school-based suicide prevention and life promotion. It outlines best practices in implementation of school-based activities and highlights potentially harmful practices that should be avoided.
The guide aims to provide decision makers with information related to the key roles that they play in effective, comprehensive suicide prevention and life promotion in schools. These roles create conditions, coordinate programming, consider specific populations, create capacity, collaborate across community, communicate progress.
The guide outlines the following goals for system leaders:
- Align the core work of a school district with a Mental Health and Addictions Strategy.
- Understand and implement the core elements of effective school-based suicide prevention and life promotion.
- Ensure a district wide commitment to mental health promotion, which is the work of suicide prevention and life promotion.
- Communicate district/school plans with key community partners.
The following are important messages for system leaders to keep in mind:
- Everyone has a role in life promotion/suicide prevention.
- The most significant role that schools play is upstream.
- wellness promotion, identity affirming life promotion
- early identification and support
- navigation to, from, and through mental health services
- Thoughtful decisions and processes help to avoid practices that may inadvertently cause harm. System leaders have a central role in building, sustaining, and monitoring organizational conditions and protocols for effective practice in life promotion/suicide prevention.