Sundre volunteers have been coming together in the hopes of creating a connected atmosphere in the community to ultimately prevent suicide.
A group, known as Call to Action, held a meeting at West Country Centre last Wednesday to express to the community how they plan to accomplish this.
They informed guests that the goal is to become more action-oriented in the community.
After forming in February of 2012, members held a forum where people in the community expressed their concerns about the increasing amount of suicides in town.
Since that forum, the Call to Action committee has created goals on how to prevent this as the committee moves forward, said Paul Shippy, a mental health liaison.
This includes creating an exchange of views, researching needs in terms of addictions, celebrating individuality, connecting and learning about healthy relationships and fostering coping skills.
Based on these goals, the committee created strategies which they have acquired funding for, said Shippy.
The actions include a walk of hope to raise awareness about suicide, participating in culture days and organizing a mud run, which will each take place in the next year, he said.
Also, an interactive group, called Call to Conversation, was formed for people in the community to come together and discuss issues.
ìWe as a committee are working as community members and hoping to draw in more community members to help create a better community,î he said.
By participating in these events, the community will have potential to become ìhealthierî and more connected, he said.
ìI think good health can be reached through community involvement,î he explained.
There are people that are struggling in the community who feel alone and are hard to reach, he said.
However, he said he believes if everyone in the community works together to create a positive atmosphere, then those people will feel more comfortable.
ìI value people and I value health, but I know that I can't do enough in my job to make everybody healthy,î he said.
ìIt takes the entire community to make a healthy community.î
