Purpose
The primary goal of the snapshot survey was to critically inform the development of the Suicide PIP Framework by providing information on current suicide PIP programs and services in BC. While the snapshot survey will not provide an exhaustive directory of suicide PIP programs and services, it provided a cross section of the different current activities. Participants were recruited using a snowball sampling methodology.
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Research Question
What are the nature and characteristics of suicide prevention, intervention and postvention services* across the lifespan that are currently available in British Columbia?
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*Services are defined as: Organizations or persons working directly to prevent/ intervene in suicide risk and/or behaviour and/or provide follow-up with bereaved persons after a death by suicide has occurred.
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Progress To Date
The snapshot survey took place from June 2008 to March 2009 and consisted of 77 telephone interviews with participants from across the province.-Participants were service providers or those involved with service delivery for suicide prevention, intervention and/or postvention services and/or mental health services.
Areas of representation included: Aboriginal health and wellness, mental health, addictions, crisis centres, hospitals, emergency departments, seniors health, child and youth, university populations, multicultural agencies, gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered health, etc.
Responses helped our understanding of the challenges, strengths and plans for mental health and suicide PIP services in BC.
Snapshot Survey Results (Top 5)
Suicide Prevention
For current practices in prevention, capacity building, collaboration and community education programs were highlighted. For desired practice in prevention, improving funding was identified.
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Suicide Intervention
For current practices in intervention, gatekeeper training, peer and group support, phone counselling and risk assessment were identified. For desired practices in intervention, improving accessibility of services, improving the coordination of services and decreasing wait times were identified.
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Suicide Postvention
For current practices in postvention, critical incident management and phone counselling were identified. For desired practice in postvention, providing postvention resources was identified.
