Mental health advocates alarmed about recent suicides in Medicine Hat
MEDICINE HAT, AB – Mental health advocates are on high alert following numerous suicides by young men in the community.
“We definitely have some really strong concerns about what is happening in our community. We know that we’ve had five suicides in the past four months. We know that there have been additional deaths of young individuals as well related to overdoses,” Cori Fischer, executive director of the CMHA Alberta Southeast Division said.
According to Fischer, the suicide rate this year has remained on par to previous years but there is heightened concern due to the time frame of the deaths and the possibility that the men may have belonged to the same cohort.
With mental health being so complex, Fischer said it’s hard to pinpoint exactly what is occurring but she said there is an alarming commonality among the men that died.