Content Warning: This podcast discusses suicide, suicidal thoughts, and suicide bereavement. Some content may be distressing. Please listen in a way that feels safe for you and seek support if needed.

Description: This episode examines the dominant models guiding suicide research and prevention, as well as what might be missing. While individual-level, risk-based frameworks have shaped much of the field, suicide rates have not declined significantly. Panellists explore how a strong focus on diagnosis and risk assessment can overshadow broader social, relational, cultural, and institutional factors. The episode calls for broadening the lens to include families, communities, and systems, as well as recognition that suicide prevention must reflect the complexity of real lives.

Moderated by:

Suzanne Bailey: Long-time social worker with Canada’s Department of National Defence and contributor to the Road to Mental Readiness program

Dr. Christine Genest: Associate Professor, Université de Montréal’s Faculty of Nursing

Guest Panellists:

Dr. Sharon Lawn: Professor, College of Medicine and Public Health, Flinders University

Jonny Morris: CEO for the Canadian Mental Health Association’s BC division

Dr. Jitender Sareen: Professor and Head of the Department of Psychiatry, University of Manitoba

Relevant Resources:

· Open Door: Open Door: Improving the Wellbeing of Veterans, Public Safety Personnel, and their Families research initiative

· Ecosocial approach: Suicide in cultural context: An ecosocial approach.

· CMHA BC suicide prevention framework: Provincial Suicide Risk Reduction Framework

· Jennifer White podcast: Rethinking Suicide Prevention: An Interview on Critical Suicide Studies with Jennifer White

· Australia Royal Commission: Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide—Final Report

· Moral Injury and suicide: Moral injury and suicidality among combat-wounded veterans: The moderating effects of social connectedness and self-compassion

· Community-based peer suicide prevention (Veterans): Veteran peer suicide prevention: A community‐based peer prevention model

· Narrative assessment to suicide: A Narrative Approach to Assess Suicide—Tell Me Your Story

· Zero Suicide (USA)

Content Warning: This podcast discusses suicide, suicidal thoughts, and suicide bereavement. Some content may be distressing. Please listen in a way that feels safe for you and seek support if needed.

Description: This episode focuses on research design, data gaps, and the importance of lived experience in shaping suicide prevention efforts. Panellists discuss the challenges of collecting accurate data in military and public safety settings, where stigma and career consequences can limit disclosure. The conversation highlights the growing movement toward co-designed research that meaningfully includes people with lived experience from the outset.

Moderated by: Suzanne Bailey: Long-time social worker with Canada’s Department of National Defence and contributor to the Road to Mental Readiness program

Dr. Heidi Cramm: Occupational therapist, Professor in the School of Rehabilitation Therapy at Queen’s University and research lead at the Families Matter Research Group

Guest Panellists:

Bronwen Edwards: CEO of Roses in the Ocean, a lead organization for the lived experience of suicide

Dr. Simon Hatcher: Chair, Department of Psychiatry, University of Ottawa and scientist at the at The Ottawa Hospital

Dr. Nicholas Procter: Academic lead for mental health and Chair of Mental Health Nursing at Adelaide University

Relevant Resources:

· FBI suicide tracking among law enforcement (USA): Law Enforcement Suicide Data Collection (LESDC)

· Integrating lived experience in research: Best Practice Guidelines for the engagement of people with lived experience in mental health/substance use health research

· Power imbalances research with people with lived experience (PWLE): The ultimate power play in research—Partnering with patients, partnering with power

· Qualitative and quantitative research methods in suicidology: Looking Beyond the Qualitative and Quantitative Divide: Narrative, Ethics and Representation in Suicidology

· Storytelling and suicidality: Experiences of suicide survivors of sharing their stories about suicidality and overcoming a crisis in media and public talks: A qualitative study

· Trauma-informed suicide prevention: The impact of trauma‐informed suicide prevention approaches: A systematic review of evidence across the lifespan

Content Warning: This podcast discusses suicide, suicidal thoughts, and suicide bereavement. Some content may be distressing. Please listen in a way that feels safe for you and seek support if needed.

Description: Drawing from clinical, policing, and military perspectives, this episode highlights how families are often expected to prevent suicide without adequate tools, guidance, or support. Panellists discuss stigma, career concerns, privacy barriers, and key transition points that can destabilizing. The episode challenges the idea that families are “first responders to first responders”. At its core, this episode argues that families are not backup supports, they are partners who deserve care, recognition, and direct support.

Moderated by:

Suzanne Bailey: Long-time social worker with Canada’s Department of National Defence and contributor to the Road to Mental Readiness program

Dr. Heidi Cramm: Occupational therapist, Professor in the School of Rehabilitation Therapy and research lead at the Families Matter Research Group, Queen’s University

Guest Panellists:

Dr. Walter Busuttil: Consultant psychiatrist and Visiting Professor at the King’s Centre for Military Health Research

Dr. Laura Frey: Associate Professor in couple and Family therapy at the University of Louisville in Kentucky

Sarah McEwen: Wellness Resource Liaison, Ottawa Police Service

Relevant Resources:

· Coroner Report: Staying Visible, Staying Connected, for Life: Report of the Expert Panel on Police Officer Deaths by Suicide

· PSP mental health stigma (Canada): “Playing the system”: Structural factors potentiating mental health stigma, challenging awareness, and creating barriers to care for Canadian public safety personnel

· Family Science in suicide: Where Is Family Science in Suicide Prevention and Intervention? Theoretical Applications for a Systemic Perspective

· Padres (Chaplains- Canada): National Defence. The Royal Canadian Chaplain Service

· Families as risk or protective factors: A scoping review of military and Veteran families within international suicidality and suicide prevention research

· Risk and protective factors (Canada, UK, Australia, New Zealand): Risk and protective factors for self-harm and suicide behaviours among serving and ex-serving personnel of the UK Armed Forces, Canadian Armed Forces, Australian Defence Force and New Zealand Defence Force: A systematic review

· Peer support for families (military-US): Surviving families of military suicide loss: Exploring postvention peer support

· ASIST Training: Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training (ASIST)