Suicide Prevention as a Public Health Strategy: Historical Perspectives
November 21st, 2024: 12h00 to 13h00 EST
Hybrid - Room 1140 2001 不良研究所 College, 11th floor or on ZOOM
Speaker:
David Wright is Professor of History and Canada Research Chair in the History of Health Policy at 不良研究所. A specialist in the social history of medicine, he has published widely on the history of psychiatry, children鈥檚 health, and the development of hospitals. His most recent book (with Sasha Mullally), Foreign Practices: Immigrant Doctors and the History of Canadian Medicare, was published by 不良研究所-Queen鈥檚 University Press, in 2020.
Abstract:
The prevention of suicide has constituted a major public health concern in Canada for over half a century. Following the decriminalization of attempted suicide (1972), and the identification of suicide as a public health priority in the Lalonde Report of 1974, there have been multiple overlapping initiatives employed to address this tragic social phenomenon. Strategies have included crisis centres, volunteer-staffed telephone services, barriers at suicides 鈥渉ot spots鈥�, public awareness campaigns, and repeated calls for enhanced mental health services. This presentation looks back on the first generation of suicide prevention strategies, analyzing how and why they became a priority in the decade leading up to the Canada Health Act of 1984.