Even one is too many
The Canadian Armed Forces and Veterans Affairs Canada announced their joint suicide-prevention strategy in October. It is “an approach we have not seen before,” said Minister of Veterans Affairs Seamus O’Regan. The strategy is an effort to co-ordinate some 160 programs and services in both departments that are targeted at reducing suicide among serving members and veterans.
“One suicide is too many; zero is the target,” said Chief of the Defence Staff General Jonathan Vance. “There can be no other number.”
The aim is to prevent suicide by building mental-health resilience, strengthening family and community support, providing mental-health care when and where it’s needed, and supporting research so we know we’re doing all we can, and the best we can.
Many of those programs and polic...