About
About
The Here4Hope Project
Here4Hope is the Wellington community based life promotion, suicide prevention project. The vision for the project is that Wellington is a community where suicide is prevented and everyone lives with hope and resilience.
Everyone has a role to play in preventing suicide and the goal of Here4Hope is to engage as many individuals and organizations as possible in this important work. The World Health Organization supports this whole community model and countries worldwide including the UK, Ireland, and Australia are adopting this approach.
The Here4Hope framework identifies all the potential evidence based activities that can contribute to life promotion and suicide prevention. There is a role for formal supports, for community agencies/associations/employers and for individuals to contribute to the work. This website will provide ideas, resources and updates to local work to inspire participation and engagement.
Where did Here4Hope come from?
In the fall of 2018, the Canadian Mental Health Association of Waterloo Wellington brought members of the Wellington community together for a conversation about mental health and hope. Hosted by TSN sports personalities Michael Landsberg and Jennifer Hedger, hundreds of people attended.
“Talking about mental health can be hard. When we talk about it together, we can learn and support one another.” - Michael Landsberg
The evening ended with a commitment to move forward together to promote hope and healing.
The Wellington framework for promoting life and preventing suicide, Here4Hope was launched in the spring of 2019. The framework was developed with input from local community members who have attempted suicide, who are bereaved by suicide as well as service providers combined with the best available research on suicide prevention.
Why did we create this site?
The belief that everyone has a role to play in promoting life and preventing suicide is the foundation for the Here4Hope framework. The World Health Organization and many countries including the UK, Ireland, Australia and the US are supporting this whole community approach.
Here4Hope.ca is an evergreen online space for everyone in Wellington interested in getting involved in suicide prevention. Here4Hope.ca is place to learn about evidence informed approaches, find helpful resources and connect to other individuals and organizations that are working to prevent suicide. Here4Hope is about creating hope together.
We would like to thank the following organizations for providing financial assistance to the Here4Hope project:
The Here4Hope project is grateful for all the local organizations that are involved in this important work of promoting life and preventing suicide. We will endeavour to highlight as many as possible throughout this website. For a complete list see the Resources page.
DEDICATION
The Here4Hope project is representative of Wellington’s collective commitment to act on promoting life and preventing suicide. This work undertaken in recognition of the pain suffered by those who have lost a loved one to suicide, who have attempted suicide, who are struggling with suicidality and to those who respond, support and care for those touched by suicide.