© Pimatisiwin: A Journal of Aboriginal and Indigenous Community Health 6(2) 2008 145 The Suicide Prevention Continuum

• Main Author: Dawn Caldwell
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Subjects: Beck; Canada; First Nations
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.590.3955; http://www.fsin.com/healthandsocial/childportal/images/6.2H_Suicide_Prevention_Continuum.pdf

The suicide prevention continuum illustrates a practical approach to the complex issue of suicide prevention. The continuum evolved from discus-sions with two Aboriginal communities in Atlantic Canada about suicide and the different types of interventions available. The continuum offers a framework and reference tool to differentiate between the different stages of suicide risk. It illustrates where the Aboriginal Community Youth Resilience Network (ACYRN) fits into suicide prevention and how it contributes to prevention knowledge, capacity building, and policy development. Background Suicide risk is five to seven times higher among First Nations youth than among non-Aboriginal youth of the same age. Between 1989 and 1993, the suicide rate was 126 per 100,000 among First Nations men aged 15–24 years compared with 24 per 100,000 for other Canadian men of the same age group. Young women in First Nations registered a rate of 35 per 100,000 versus only 5 per 100,000 for other Canadian women. In 1999, suicide ac-counted for no less than 38 % of all deaths in First Nations youth aged 10– 19 years (Canadian Institute of Child Health [CICH], 2003). There is a well documented association between suicide risk and men-tal well being, based on standardized personality scales and inventories to measure individual proclivity to violence (Plutchik and van Praag, 1990), depression (Blatt et al., 1999; Beck et al., 1961), hopelessness (Kazden et al., 1986; Beck et al., 1974), impulsiveness (Plutchik and van Praag, 1989), sub-