Workshop: Reducing the Incidence of Suicide in Indigenous Groups

The third and final workshop of the Reducing the Incidence of Suicide in Indigenous Groups - Strengths United through Networks (RISING SUN) project is slated to take place in Iqaluit, Nunavut, Canada March 1-2, 2017. RISING SUN is an initiative under the U.S. chairmanship of the Arctic Council (2015-2017), coordinated by the Sustainable Development Working Group, and designed as a follow-on activity to the mental wellness project of 2013-2015 , led by Canada and collaborating countries.

The Workshop has two specific goals. The first goal is to review both the Canadian and international communities’ collective understanding of suicide that will ultimately lead to a clear and common understanding of suicide determinants in the Arctic. It will also allow participants to assess activities of the past five years/sever years of evidence gathering and strategies (starting with the Nuuk Conference and up to the more recent development of the RISING SUN Initiative and National Inuit Suicide Prevention Strategy among others).

The second goal of the Workshop is to jointly determine a format and dissemination strategy that will maximize opportunities for cooperative implementation of the RISING SUN toolkit. This will take into account current activities underway in the Arctic Council countries that are related to building resilience and preventing suicide. This will also lead to the development of a path forward for future activities under the Arctic Council leadership of Finland’s Chairmanship (2017-2019).

Click here to learn more about the RISING SUN project.