From the streets of Canada’s poorest area to the isolated northern Arctic native villages over 1,000 miles north the extent of this scourge within Quebec society has had one unintended beneficial consequence.

The province’s suicide intervention community has accumulated a vast repository of knowledge and techniques they use on a daily basis. Despair, addiction, loneliness, loss : reasons for suicidal thoughts are varied, but Quebec’s overworked interveners have noticed similarities in the trajectory sufferers take on their downward slid

The compact, concise, easy-to-read Quebec Suicide Prevention Handbook is an indispensable tool for psychologists, social workers and community workers. Now for the first time this book has been adapted into English.

The original author, Raymond Viger, therapist, youth centre operator and community activist, has over 25 years’ experience in the field.He has teamed up with Colin McGregor, long-term federal inmate, lifelong journalist to produce this small, handy, affordable handbook for social workers and sufferers alike. Both men have also attempted the awful final act. Viger trains social workers at several colleges, including McGregor’s alma mater, McGill University, in suicide prevention techniques. What is the extent of the problem ? What triggers, warning signs, should people look out for ? How do you deal with an actively self-destructive person ? At what stage should specific helpful acts be undertaken ? This guidebook demystifies the subject. Charts and graphs lay out easy-to-follow ideas. This book is a vital resource. A section is adressed to those who have suffered the grief of a loved one’s suicide.