Our Vision is
To promote mental well-being, raise awareness, eliminate stigma, and educate to reduce suicide, suicidal behaviors and their impacts.
Our Mission is
-
To Raise Awareness
-
To foster Hope
-
To Empower
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.
History
The seeds of Suicide Prevention Resource Centre were planted in 1982, 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 commonly referred to as the Suicide Prevention Program.
Adolescent Treatment Group was initiated in 1989 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 a workshop presentations to the current structure of weekend retreats with follow-up programming. The Breakfast Club is our longest running program.
In 1996, 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, was added in 1999.
By 2006, suicide prevention had outgrown its role as an inter-agency committee, and it was time to seek independent status as a registered non-profit. The process was long, but rewarding, and in December of 2007, Suicide Prevention Resource Centre was officially born. Community Helpers joined our lineup of programming. Staff grew from one coordinator in 1982 to nine dedicated employees today.
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.