Sudbury event aims to change the narrative on suicide

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An event honouring and remembering those affected by suicide is being held at Bell Park in Sudbury on Sunday.

It comes just two days before World Suicide Prevention Day, held annually on Sept. 10.

The event will feature guest speakers and sessions surrounding the theme of 'Changing the Narrative on Suicide.'

Matthieu Bonin, 37, is one of the guest speakers at the Sept. 8 event who will be sharing his story about suffering from severe depression 10 years ago.

"I think that when you have felt despair, you don’t want anyone else feeling that way," Bonin said.

"And I just want you to know that you can get better from a place you don’t think you can get better from."

He wrote a book, 'Light from Darkness,' about his journey with depression and admits he thought about suicide multiple times.

"I got hospitalized and I lived things that I didn’t even know existed," Bonin said.

"The worst of it, I was in catatonia, so I couldn’t move, couldn’t speak, prisoner of my own body. And I just thought 'my life is over, my life is done, this is it, it’s just suffering now.'"

He said when someone is in that state, it is hard to visualize ever getting well again.

"That is what despair feels like, so you stop trying," Bonin said.

Turning to swimming for healing, he swam halfway around Manitoulin Island two years ago to raise money for multiple sclerosis (MS), a disease his aunt died of.

Above-average suicide rates among northern Ontario youth

Compass is the lead agency for child and youth mental health services in Sudbury and is one of the community partners hosting the event.

Its CEO, Mark Fraser, said the event hopes to address the significantly higher suicide rates in northern Ontario.

"Our youth continue to have higher rates of suicide, as high as 86 per cent, than the provincial norms," Fraser said.

"2SLGBTQ experience 17 times higher risk of suicide and youth from Indigenous backgrounds continue to experience five to six times higher suicide rates."

Suicide alertness training

At the event, the Suicide Safer Network is hosting two free safeTALK workshops specific to supporting and starting that conversation with those who may benefit from suicide intervention.

The event is taking place Sept. 8 from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Elizabeth Street Gazebo in Bell Park.