Scott Chisholm knows better than most how difficult it is to speak openly about suicide. “It’s such a difficult word to say, let alone a subject to talk about,” he says. Nearly 30 years after his own father’s suicide, Chisholm’s voice still drops to a hushed whisper whenever the word lands in one of his […]
Suicide
Posted inNews + Opinion
To a safer Macdonald bridge
Construction starts next week to extend euphemistically named “safety barriers” across the length of the Macdonald Bridge, along both the pedestrian walkway on the south side of the bridge and the bicycle lane along the north side of the bridge. The new barriers will match the existing barriers that extend only so far as the […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Health report fails to analyze root causes
If Freddie Mercury were alive, I’d ask his opinion of the Nova Scotia government’s 51-page report on suicide that was finally released last week. The Queen singer, who died of AIDS in 1991, might thrust out his hairy chest, give me his trademark, buck-toothed smile, and belt out “Don’t Try Suicide”: “So you think it’s […]
Posted inLifestyle
Province delays watershed suicide report
What’s the best way to reduce the number of suicides? Before answering that question, we first need to know who’s committing suicide, and how. That’s the philosophy behind the Profile of Suicide Injury Report, a celebrated and ground-breaking approach to suicide prevention in Nova Scotia. There’s only one problem: the government hasn’t released the report. […]