The Vision of the Resource Centre for Suicide Prevention is to promote mental well-being, raises awareness, eliminate stigma, and educate to reduce suicide, suicidal behaviors and their impacts.

Mission

  • To Raise Awareness and create conversations surrounding suicide and mental well-being, acknowledging that talking about suicide is lifesaving.
  • To Foster Hope and resiliency by providing individuals, families, and agencies with knowledge and resources to support living well.
  • To Empower our community by facilitating skill building, safe communication, and promoting the value of self-care.

Board of Directors

President – Drew Pearson

Vice President – Brenden Bozlovitch

Secretary/Treasurer – Kristian Toivonen

Directors

Devon Wardley

Heather Putio

Michelle Scarrow-Baillie

Jennifer Schollaardt

Shelly Dachuk

Jon Anderson

HISTORY

The seeds of Suicide Prevention Resource Centre were planted when a community inter-agency committee was established with oversight provided by PACE (Providing Assistance, Counselling and Education). This working group was called Community Inter-agency Suicide Prevention Program (CISPP) and was most referred to as the Suicide Prevention Program.

The Adolescent Treatment Group was initiated in response to concerns regarding teen suicide and delivered by a team from Children’s Services and Mental Health therapists, with administrative support from CISPP. This group evolved over time to The Breakfast Club and moved from workshop presentations to the current structure of weekend retreats with follow-up programming. The Breakfast Club is our longest running program.

The Men’s Support Group was formed with support from Catholic Family Services. Throughout this time, CISPP had been providing the northwest Alberta with intervention skills training, and public presentations designed to raise awareness of suicide and mental health Issues.

Tough Enough to Talk About It, originally called Men at Risk.

Suicide Prevention Resource Centre was approved as a registered non-profit.

In the Spring of 2020, the name was changed to Resource Centre for Suicide Prevention (RCSP) to reflect a new focus on reducing crisis calls and leading in delivering best practices in mental health to our community.