Many of you may know that one of the most effective ways to prevent suicide is to restrict the access to means. Recently Dr. John Carsley, medical health officer for the city of Vancouver, wrote a letter to the mayor and council in support of the installation of suicide prevention barriers on Vancouver bridges.
In his letter, Dr. Carsley states that between 2000 and 20012, 122 people died by jumping from bridges in the Vancouver area. Others who did not die suffered grievous injury. He cites evidence that suicide barriers have been proven to be effective in preventing these deaths, and that there is no displacement to other means or locations. He cites the societal cost of a single suicide as being estimated between $800,000 and $1,000,000.
In light of this information, the case for investing in suicide prevention barriers seems clear. If you live in the Vancouver area, please consider contacting the mayor and councillors to express your support of this decision. You can reach the mayor and council by email at mayorandcouncil@vancouver.ca and the city manager, Penny Ballem, at penny.ballem@vancouver.ca
Below is the email of support I sent. You're welcome to plagiarize!
Dear Mayor Robertson and Councillors,If you're not in the Vancouver area, you could contact your own city council to express support for a similar measure in your municipality.
As both an executive board member of the Crisis Intervention and Suicide Prevention Centre of B.C. and someone who has been bereaved by suicide, I am writing you to express my strong support of Dr. Carsley's recommendations on the installation of suicide prevention barriers.
A number of studies have indicated that when lethal means are made less available or less deadly, suicide rates by that method decline, and frequently suicide rates overall decline. In fact, some of the most dramatic reductions in suicide rates have been due to means restriction. Dr. Carsley provides excellent data on the effectiveness of bridge barriers in this regard.
Dr. Carsley provides a quantified estimate of the societal cost of a suicide death. As someone who has been bereaved by suicide I can testify to how devastating a loss that can be, especially when there is evidence that the loved one's death was preventable, as many suicide deaths are. In light of both the financial and emotional toll such deaths take, the return on investment of installing bridge barriers seems clear.
I hope to see a favourable decision by council on this matter in the near future.
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