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Editorial
. 2021 May;66(5):446-450.
doi: 10.1177/0706743721989153. Epub 2021 Jan 31.

Advancing Public Mental Health in Canada through a National Suicide Prevention Service: Setting an Agenda for Canadian Standards of Excellence

Allison Crawford  1   2
Affiliations
Editorial

Advancing Public Mental Health in Canada through a National Suicide Prevention Service: Setting an Agenda for Canadian Standards of Excellence

Allison Crawford. Can J Psychiatry. 2021 May.

Abstract
in English, French

The Public Health Agency of Canada is funding a new Canada Suicide Prevention Service (CSPS), timely both in recognition of the need for a public health approach to suicide prevention, and also in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, which is causing concern about the potential for increases in suicide. This editorial reviews priorities for suicide prevention in Canada, in relation to the evidence for crisis line services, and current international best practices in the implementation of crisis lines; in particular, the CSPS recognizes the importance of being guided by existing evidence as well as the opportunity to contribute to evidence, to lead innovation in suicide prevention, and to involve communities and people with lived experience in suicide prevention efforts.

L’agence de la santé publique du Canada finance un nouveau Service canadien de prévention du suicide (SCPS), à la fois en reconnaissance du besoin d’une approche de santé publique de la prévention du suicide, et aussi dans le contexte de la pandémie de la COVID-19, qui cause des préoccupations quant à l’augmentation potentielle des suicides. Le présent article examine les priorités de la prévention du suicide au Canada, relativement aux données probantes des services de ligne de crise, et aux pratiques exemplaires internationales actuelles en matière de mise en œuvre des lignes de crise; en particulier, le SCPS reconnaît l’importance de se laisser guider par les données probantes existantes, ainsi que la possibilité de contribuer aux données probantes, de faire preuve d’innovation dans la prévention du suicide, et d’impliquer les collectivités et les personnes ayant une expérience vécue des initiatives de prévention du suicide.

Keywords: crisis intervention; public health; suicide prevention.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of Conflicting Interests: The author declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Dimensions of a national suicide prevention service.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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