If you or someone you know is thinking about suicide, call or text 9-8-8 or call 2-1-1. Support is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. 

Many people know someone who is struggling with suicidal thoughts — a friend, family member, neighbour, or colleague — but may not know exactly how to respond in the moment.  

In Part 1 of this two-part series, we look at the practical aspects of suicide prevention for individuals and those they may be supporting, and the resources available through CMHA Toronto to understand and respond to suicide risk. 

In our society, suicide is surrounded by myths and misconceptions. Fear, shame, stigma, and uncertainty all combine to make conversations about suicide difficult — even for professionals. 

It’s important to know that recognizing suicide risk and responding effectively are learned skills, and that suicide prevention isn't only the work of crisis professionals.  

Everyone can become more aware of suicide risks and gain the skills and confidence to respond, whether during a moment of crisis or before.  

CMHA Toronto currently offers three different education sessions to support people in whatever role they may play: from the general public, to friends or family members of those at risk, to those interested in learning more formal suicide intervention skills including professionals working in the mental health field.  

There is a spectrum of suicide-prevention awareness and response, running from a basic understanding of suicide risks and the stigma and misconceptions around it, through to the capacity to intervene and support someone during a crisis. 

Regardless of where people are on that continuum, there are ways to be present with someone who is struggling and opportunities to deepen our understanding of how to support people who are experiencing mental pain. This ability to be present and non-judgemental — to be willing to create a space where people feel safe to talk about suicide — is perhaps the most important part of suicide prevention. 

At the broadest level, suicide prevention starts by offering people a basic understanding of suicide.  

Changing the Narrative: Recognizing Suicide Risk in a Stigmatized World is a CMHA Toronto webinar held annually on or around Suicide Prevention Day on September 10.   

The one-hour session explores the current landscape of suicide in Canada; common misconceptions about suicide and the factors that contribute to suicide risk; and the reality that stigma and myths can make it harder to talk about suicide.  

The session also importantly contextualizes that suicide risk doesn’t exist solely within the individual. At a recent session facilitated by Cynthia Grant, associate director of nursing at CMHA Toronto, she emphasized the importance of looking beyond individual risk to the interpersonal, social, and societal factors.  

Sometimes, people speak openly about suicide and other times, the indications that someone is struggling may be more subtle. In either case, it’s important to be able to have a conversation about suicide and support the person’s safety. 

SafeTALK is a half-day session that gives people the confidence and practical skills to recognize when someone may be thinking about suicide and connect them to safety.  

The goal of safeTALK isn't to turn participants into suicide-intervention specialists. It's to develop suicide alertness: recognizing possible invitations to talk about suicide, engaging the person, and staying engaged as they access that support. 

CMHA Toronto hosts safeTALK workshops at reduced cost for residents of Toronto aged 15 or over. 

Someone trained in suicide intervention has a more developed set of skills for engaging directly with a person who is thinking about suicide, understanding what's happening, and working collaboratively toward safety. 

Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training (ASIST) is a two-day intervention-skills program that trains participants to recognize when someone may be thinking about suicide and work with them toward safety. 

Even well-trained clinicians can benefit from focusing on suicide prevention more intensely. 

All front-line staff at CMHA Toronto are required to complete ASIST training. In March 2026, Christina Gallo, registered mental health therapist with CMHA Toronto’s Mental Health Promotion & Training Program, went a step further. She became an accredited ASIST facilitator as a way of giving back to her community and equipping more people to support others. 

It’s important to Christina to create human connection, especially around such a difficult issue. She says her facilitation style is to invite people to “’come in, be a human, let's have these hard conversations.’” 

One of the most important aspects of ASIST, in Christina’s experience, is that it gives participants an opportunity to unpack their own biases. People may arrive with strongly held views or values about suicide, including beliefs that suicide is morally wrong or that people experiencing suicidal thoughts are weak. 

“Everyone comes with biases. What I love about this training is that it doesn't do anything to change your thought processes, but it allows you to explore them more openly. You can start to see how your biases might influence how someone responds to you in a helping role.” 

Through discussion and an exercise that examines the advantages and disadvantages of different beliefs, participants learn to recognize those biases without making them the focus of a conversation with someone who is struggling. “It doesn't say you're wrong, it doesn't say you're right, but it lets you see the pros and cons to every thought and opinion that we have about suicide,” Christina says. The goal is to help people have open, human, and non-judgemental conversations regardless of their own views. 

Christina is also seeing ASIST broaden its reach beyond people in direct clinical roles. “Typically, we see more clinicians because it's often mandatory in a lot of our fields, but you're starting to see buy-in from other organizations.” Participants now include people from many walks of life and in roles where they may encounter someone experiencing suicidal thoughts or a crisis, including security guards, educators, and human resources staff as well as family members and friends. As Christina says, “Anyone can take ASIST to better support someone who is experiencing suicidal thoughts.”  

ASIST also confronts one of the biggest misconceptions about suicide: that talking about it directly may cause someone to consider it. Role-playing gives participants a chance to practise those difficult conversations and build confidence. “It's so beautiful to see people come in and practice those conversations, and leave saying ‘I can do this,’” Christina says.

Training can help individuals recognize suicide risk and respond when someone needs support. But preventing suicide does not rest solely on individuals — whether they're friends, family members, clinicians, or other service providers.  

Suicide risk is also shaped by the communities people live in, the systems they’re part of, and the social conditions that affect their lives. 

In Part 2 coming later this winter, we'll look at suicide as a public health issue and how CMHA Toronto is working at the organizational, policy, and advocacy levels to address the conditions that contribute to suicide risk.