Education students to study suicide warning signs

Aspiring teachers at Laurentian University are taking on a difficult subject this weekend.

They are learning how to recognize the signs that somebody might be contemplating suicide — and they're also learning how to talk about the subject with students.

Scott Chisholm was 17 when his father took his own life. He grew up in a small town in northern Ontario, where everyone knew his dad — but how he died was something no one wanted to talk about.

"I remember going back to school and nobody talked about it," Chisholm said. "My teachers didn't talk about it; my classmates didn't talk about it."

Chisholm wants to change that, noting that people often learn about the warning signs of suicide a day after someone takes his or her own life.

Chisholm will travel from Thunder Bay to Sudbury to share his story with education students at Laurentian University — one of whom is Ben Skillings.

Inspired by Chisholm's story, Skillings helped organize the day-long suicide prevention workshop.

He said "hearing the stories of my peers … and those who have been affected by it … definitely touches your heart — whether you have been personally affected by it or not."

Skillings said more than 150 people have signed up for Saturday’s workshop.