Roots of Hope

‘Roots of Hope’ is a five year project that started in 2017. The project is focused on implementation of suicide prevention practices and activities. Roots of Hope builds upon community expertise to implement suicide prevention interventions that are tailored to the local context.

The Burin Peninsula was the first community to sign onto the Roots of Hope project. Eight other communities have joined and signed onto Roots of Hope. These communities include: Meadow Lake, SK; Buffalo Narrows, SK; La Ronge, SK; Northwestern NB; Edmonton, AB; Waterloo, ON; Nunavut, NWT, and Iqaluit, NWT.

The project focuses on five pillars:

1. Specialized supports
2. Training and networks
3. Public awareness campaigns
4. Research
5. Means safety

A stakeholder group, called the Community Coalition on Mental Health and Wellness, was formed to help create healthy communities for citizens through positive mental health and wellness. This group upholds a particular focus on suicide prevention, intervention and postvention. The Community Coalition on Mental Health and Wellness adopted the five pillars of the project to guide their work, and developed a community action plan to support the project.

The community action plan outlines activities within each pillar of the Roots of Hope project. The community suicide prevention coordinator helps implement activities from the action plan in areas across the Burin Peninsula. Examples of activities include: community and first responder suicide awareness presentations, distribution of Hope & Healing pamphlets, distribution of resources on substance use and hosting a summit for students. More information about completed, ongoing and upcoming activities can be found in the Resources tab.

To monitor and evaluate the project, research and evaluation initiatives are implemented for each pillar to track outcomes on the Burin Peninsula.