The Ministry of Health, Wellness and Nutrition is calling for a coordinated national approach to suicide prevention, as health professionals receive additional training to identify warning signs and intervene before suicidal behaviour escalates.
The call came during a Suicide Prevention Workshop that brought together health professionals in Saint Lucia and representatives from the Etablissement Public de Sante Mentale de la Guadeloupe to exchange experiences and examine effective strategies for preventing suicidal behaviour.
Chief Medical Officer Dr Sharon Belmar-George said one of the key challenges is that warning signs are often recognised only after a suicide has occurred.
“Many of us, whether we know people or family members, when someone commits suicide, when the family members think back, they always say, but we saw the signs,” she said. “A lot of times they see, we see the signs, but we didn’t think anything of it.”
Belmar-George said strengthening the knowledge of healthcare workers, families and communities is therefore essential to identifying those signs early.
“And by educating our healthcare providers, our community members, our families who may have persons going through mental health issues, it’s important for us to pick up those early signs and do something about it before it becomes an attempt or even a successful suicide,” she said.
Health Minister Moses Jn Baptiste stressed that suicide prevention cannot be treated solely as a healthcare issue.
“As a ministry, we recognize that suicide prevention cannot be addressed only by the health sector,” he said.
“It requires a coordinated and sustained response involving mental health services, primary care, emergency departments, schools, workplaces, social services, community organizations, families, and importantly, the wider community.”
The Minister said the country’s response must extend beyond dealing with individuals once a crisis has already developed.
“Our approach must therefore go beyond responding to a crisis after it occurs,” Jn Baptiste said.
The workshop therefore highlighted the importance of shared responsibility, with individuals, organisations and institutions all having a role to play in suicide prevention.
The engagement with mental health professionals from Guadeloupe also provided an opportunity for Saint Lucian health workers to exchange experiences and consider approaches that could strengthen interventions locally.