
“There is no single suicide that can occur in a community like that that doesn’t ripple through the entire community,” said Manion, who is director of the youth mental health research unit. Manion and others who study suicide say clusters such as the one that occurred over the weekend in Attawapiskat, where 11 people attempted suicide in a single day, can be contagious. That is, they can make other members of the community more vulnerable to attempting suicide themselves. On Monday, the situation took another grim turn, as police detained 13 young people after learning they had a suicide pact, according to Anna Betty Achneepineskum of Nishnawbe Aski Nation, the umbrella organization for northern Ontario reserves. Achneepineskum said the youth were sent to the local hospital to remain under watch. “It is very tense,” she said. There are no specialized mental health workers in the community of 2,000, according to the chief, where more than 100 people have tried to take their lives in the past seven months. One Attawapiskat family, whose 13-year-old niece died last fall after hanging herself, said they fly to Timmins once a month for counselling to help deal with her death and another suicide in the family. “This community needs help right now,” said Attawapiskat resident Wayne Fireman, a father of young children who says he is worried for their future. Suicide clusters can become normalized without positive intervention, Manion said
Source: Attawapiskat: ‘This community needs help right now’ | Ottawa Citizen
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