The St. Lucia National Mental Wellness Centre joined the rest of the world last Saturday, in recognizing World Suicide Prevention Day on under the theme “Connect, Communicate, Care.
The World Health Organization estimates that over 800,000 people die by suicide each year – that’s one person every 40 seconds and up to 25 times as many make a suicide attempt
Principal Nursing Officer at the Mental Wellness Centre, Glenda Cepal advocated for more community involvement in tackling the issue of suicide in St. Lucia.
Suicide prevention day activities commenced with a church service at the Maranatha SDA Church, followed by a march from Serenity Park to the Derek Walcott Square and culminated with a two hour concert organized by the St. Lucia National Mental Wellness Centre in collaboration with Rizen FM. Executive Director for Mental Health Services, Charmaine Hippolyte Thomas highlighted the reason for the concert.
The first World Suicide Prevention Day was held in 2003 as an initiative of the International Association for Suicide Prevention and the World Health Organization (WHO). Since then, World Suicide Prevention Day has taken place on September 10th each year.
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