National Partnership Boosts Living Hope Work
ROOTS OF HOPE logo
Living Hope began collaborating with Roots of Hope in 2019, which was launched in September of the same year by The Mental Health Commission of Canada. It’s a multi-site, community-led project that aims to reduce the impacts of suicide within communities across the country using a “made-in-Canada” approach. The project builds upon community expertise to implement suicide prevention interventions that are tailored to the local context.
This collaboration will not only benefit residents of the Edmonton region by adapting proven suicide prevention solutions in a sustainable way but will also help establish a set of evidence-based recommendations, tools and resources to be shared with all provinces and territories as part of a national suicide prevention effort.
Each of the communities participating in the project designs their work around the five main pillars of the Roots of Hope model. This includes specialized support for individuals in need, public education and awareness, means safety, training for community leaders, and research and evaluation.
Dr. Brian Mishara is the Principal Investigator of the project. He is a Professor of Psychology and Director of the Centre for Research and Intervention on Suicide, Ethical Issues and End-of-Life Practices (CRISE) at the Université du Québec à Montréal.
Roots of Hope has provided tremendous support for the Living Hope work. Their liaison, Gabby, works closely with the Living Hope project team and has provided support in the form of informational resources, creating connections with other relevant stakeholders, and supporting integration of existing work into Living Hope’s objectives.
The Living Hope project team would like to thank the Roots of Hope team, especially Gabby, for their continuous support.
Other partner communities involved in Roots Of Hope include:
Buffalo Narrows, Saskatchewan
Burin Peninsula, Newfoundland
Iqaluit, Nunavut
La Ronge, Saskatchewan
Meadow Lake, Saskatchewan
Madawaska-Victoria, New Brunswick
Waterloo Wellington, Ontario