Living Hope | A Time of Transition

At the end of March 2022, Living Hope: A Community Plan to Prevent Suicide in Edmonton is coming to the end of its three year implementation period. It is a time to celebrate the plan’s successes, learn from its challenges, and imagine a hopeful future for suicide prevention in our City.

Since its inception in 2018, Living Hope has worked side by side with aligned organizations and community stakeholders to fullfill the vision of a suicide free Edmonton. We worked to increase Edmontonians’ awareness of suicide prevention strategies by hosting the Canadian Association for Suicide Prevention’s (CASP) Conference, hosting Edmonton’s first Indigenous Transformative Reconciliation Gathering, launching the City’s first 2SLGBTQ+ distress line (Brite Line), honouring members of Edmonton Police Services through the raising of their suicide prevention sign-post, launching the inagural men’s mental health virtual conference a “Love Letter to Men”, and sponsoring the training of thousands of Edmontonians through the plan’s “no cost” training framework such as ASIST, START, Trauma Informed Care, and safeTALK… to name a few.

Though we haven’t reached the goal of a suicide free Edmonton just yet, we have learned much from our journey thus far. Perhaps most notably, that Edmonton and its diverse communities are resilient and committed to the course of suicide prevention in our City.

We have learned the enduring value of the principles upon which the plan is based; collaboration, coordination, acceleration of protective factors and mitigation of risk factors, transition towards evidence-informed holistic and trauma-informed practices, and inclusion of the rich diversity and strengths inherent in Edmonton’s many communities.

Though the future of Living Hope as a plan is uncertain beyond the end of 2022, what is certain is the communty’s committment to championing suicide prevention into the future. We would like to thank City Council for the opportunity to do this work with The City of Edmonton, the community partners and organizations who brought this work to life, and Edmontonian’s for their courage and support. Together we made Living Hope Edmonton’s collective response to suicide –  a true reflection of our combined determination to translate intention into action.