Join us on Thursday, March 27, 2025, at 12:00 p.m. (EDT - Washington, DC time) for the webinar "Fostering Life Skills in Young People to Prevent Suicide: Challenges and Opportunities", organized by the Mental Health and Substance Unit of the Pan American Health Organization and the University of Toronto. This is the third webinar of a series of four webinars held during 2024 and 2025 on suicide prevention in the Region of the Americas, each focusing on a different evidence-based intervention of the WHO LIVE LIFE Intervention Guide for Suicide Prevention in Countries.
This third webinar will present some key challenges and approaches to implementing suicide prevention in young people in the Region of the Americas, including examples at the country level.
HOW TO PARTICIPATE
- DAY: Thursday, March 27, 2025
- TIME: 12:00 to 1:30 p.m. (Washington, DC, or EDT) [See the bottom of this page for times in other cities]
- LANGUAGES: English, and Spanish.
- REGISTRATION: https://paho-org.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_FZtNyTAvS2yYhvAMOes2Nw#/registration
AGENDA
Moderator: Dr. Renato Oliveira e Souza, Chief, Mental Health and Substance Use Unit, Pan American Health Organization
- 12:00 p.m. Introductory remarks
Dr. Renato Oliveira e Souza, Chief, Mental Health and Substance Use Unit, Pan American Health Organization - 12:05 p.m. Integrating socio-emotional skills into school curricula using the Helping Adolescents Thrive (HAT) approach
Dr. Andria Spyridou, Mental Health and Psychosocial Support Specialist at UNICEF Latin America and Caribbean Regional Office - 12:25 p.m. Fighting Fires While Planting Trees: Protecting Youth from Self-Harm and Suicide-Related Content on Social Media
Dr. Rachel Mitchell, Assistant Professor, Department of Psychiatry, University of Toronto - 12:45 p.m. Advancing suicide prevention in educational establishments: the implementation of an intersectoral policy for suicide prevention in adolescents in Chile
Dr. Belen Vargas Gallegos Psychologist and consultant, National Suicide Prevention Program, Ministry of Health, Chile - 1:05 p.m. Questions and Answers
- 1:25 p.m. Closing remarks
Dr. Renato Oliveira e Souza, Chief, Mental Health and Substance Use Unit, Pan American Health Organization
CONTEXT
Each year, nearly 100,000 people die by suicide in the Americas, and for every suicide, it is estimated that there are at least 20 suicide attempts. Between 2000 and 2019, the suicide rate in the Region increased by 17%, with the Americas being the only WHO Region to show an increase during this period.
Although countries in the Americas have made progress in suicide prevention, many continue to have high or increasing suicide rates and are not on track to reach the Sustainable Development Goal Target 3.4: “to reduce by one third premature mortality from non-communicable diseases through prevention and treatment and promote mental health and well-being.”
Major barriers to preventing suicide in the Region include: weak suicide surveillance systems; a lack of evidence-based national suicide prevention strategies; low mental health service coverage; insufficient multisectoral collaboration; and stigma and discrimination associated with mental health conditions and suicide.
The Pan American Health Organization's Mental Health and Substance Unit has partnered with the University of Toronto to deliver a series of four webinars on suicide prevention in the Americas region during 2024 and 2025. Each webinar will focus on a different evidence-based intervention from the WHO LIVE LIFE Intervention Guide for Suicide Prevention in Countries.
TIMES IN OTHER CITIES
- 9:00 a.m. – Los Angeles, Vancouver
- 10:00 a.m. – Belmopan, Guatemala City, Managua, Mexico City, San José (CR), San Salvador, Tegucigalpa
- 11:00 a.m. – Bogotá, Panama City, Kingston, Lima
- 12:00 a.m. – Bridgetown, Caracas, Georgetown, Havana, La Paz, Quito, Washington D.C., Port of Spain, Port-au-Prince, Nassau, Ottawa, San Juan, Santo Domingo
- 1:00 p.m. – Asunción, Buenos Aires, Santiago, Brasilia, Montevideo, Paramaribo
- 5:00 p.m. – Geneva, Madrid
For other cities, check the local time using the following link.