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Join us for the 8th Annual Lifting the Silence Memorial Walk in honour of World Suicide Prevention Day
When: September 10th, 2013 @ 6:30 pm
Where: Victoria Park, Downtown London, ON
Why: To honour the lives of those lost to suicide
This year’s theme: Stigma – A major barrier to suicide prevention
Highlights of this year’s event include:
- Welcome performance by The Allens: winners of the 2012 Local Album of the Year by 94.9 CHRW
- Smudging ceremony by Bill Hill R.P.N., BSW, MSW, RSW, B.Ed. to open the evening’s program
- Keynote speaker Mitch Lesperance B.Ed., MSW, RSW
- Survivor Brent Hebert shares his experience and honours the life of his brother Alex, followed by a musical performance
- Reading of the names: honouring those we have lost to suicide
- Closing remarks followed by a musical performance by Brent Hebert
Program:
About Bill Hill:
Ro’nikonkatste (Standing Strong Spirit) is a Mohawk from Six Nations. Bill has worked at Regional Mental Health Care – London since 1982 in the disciplines of nursing, social work and education in conjunction with spiritual care. Bill is a drum maker and uses his drums to send out kind spirit energy through song and the voice of the drum.
About Mitch Lesperance:
Mitch has been a social worker for over 30 years. He has been trained in trauma response care and has worked with school age youth and families in the area of mental health. He has weathered the many losses over these years with families who cannot comprehend the profound loss when a family member or friend finds suicide as the final solution to their complex life situations. Utilizing a faith foundation, compassion, clinical skills and humour, he like other clinicians have helped families move through this chapter in their stories. With the supports within the community along with family and friends, discernment is often found much later and with it the relief of re-embracing life.
Please bring a pair of new or gently used shoes to donate to those in need.
Please stay and enjoy some light refreshments, talk with others and peruse the resource table.
LMSPC will have on display its Photo/Story exhibit in which survivors of suicide share their personal stories.
The Photo/Story exhibit was inspired by: “Collateral Damage: Images of Those Left Behind” a national project by Scott Chisholm, which will be a book of portraits, website & gallery exhibition telling the stories of people who have lost a loved one by suicide. For more information please visit: Left Behind by Suicide
For more information about Lifting the Silence Memorial Walk, how you can help or to donate, please contact us at info@lmspc.ca
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