The ManKind Project USA is working with the ManKind Project International and the Mental Health Resource Team (MHRT) to coordinate efforts for World Suicide Prevention Day – September 10, 2012 and for World Suicide Survivor Day on November 17, 2012.
We ask men from centers across the country to participate in this effort by spreading the word to our IGroups and engaging men in our communities to take action.
To participate, please contact David Rose, the Chair of the Mental Health Resource Team at: mhrt@mkp.org
As always, the MHRT is available 24/7 to assist in an emergency or potential emergency at mhrt@mkp.org or 301-502-1777.
The MKPI Suicide Awareness and Prevention Initiative
The Mental Health Resource Team (MHRT) invites and urges you to participate in World Suicide Prevention Day. On and around September 10, groups, communities, and organizations all over the world will be meeting and supporting each other in learning about suicide, learning how to prevent it, and learning how to deal with its aftermath.
How can we join them in this vital initiative? That’s the good news- much of the preparatory work has already been done for us. The home page of World Suicide Prevention Day is World Suicide Prevention Day is www.iasp.info/wspd/. Visit this site (or use the links below) and you will find resources that will help you
Find World Suicide Prevention Day banners in over 40 languages.
Download the World Suicide Prevention Day brochure.
Download the World Suicide Prevention Day Suggested Activities sheet.
Read about World Suicide Prevention Day activities throughout the world.
Download the World Suicide Prevention Day Toolkit, a single-page PDF that contains links to World Suicide Prevention Day resources and related Web sites.
Use the WSPD Activities Online Submission Form to let us know about your World Suicide Prevention Day activities.
Let us know where to send your Certificate of Appreciation for participating in World Suicide Prevention Day.
Visit the Official World Suicide Prevention Day Facebook Event Page. Over 1,500 people from around the world have indicated they are participating in a World Suicide Prevention Day activity.
How can you participate?
- If you’re a Center Director, find your best facilitators and ask them to convene a Community Circle and use the World Suicide Prevention Day resources to start a discussion- and encourage men to go out and share what they’ve learned.
- If you’re an I-Group Council member or I-Group Facilitator, take these resources out to the I-Groups, new and old. Many of these activities can be adapted to an I-Group evening format.
- If you’re a certified Leader or Co-Leader, share these resources with your mentees and make use of them in NWTA staff meetings.
- If you’re involved in Boys To Men, there are materials and activities suitable for that age group, and no, that’s not too early- that population is especially vulnerable!
- If you’re a man in an I-Group, bring these resources to your group and use them to encourage sharing and mutual support.
Our vision for World Suicide Prevention Day (and after) is that
- EVERY Center and Community will convene a Community Circle to share these resources and begin an ongoing, informed Community conversation about suicide.
- EVERY Certified Leader and Co-Leader and senior I-Group facilitator will be familiar with these resources.
- EVERY I-Group will know about the resources and activities that are available, and know who to call for support in using them.
And what can you do now? RIGHT now? Go to that website and just start looking around. This site brings together information that mental health professionals have been accumulating for decades in a very user-friendly format. This is a website that can teach us things we need to know, that can help us give men hope, that can help us give men breathing space to find new alternatives.
This is a website that can help us save lives.
Join us on World Suicide Prevention Day.
It’s time to fight back the darkness.
