Chaya Vogelpoel-Rainbird:
Thank you so much for coming together. Thanks for reading the strategy, looking at it, not putting it on a shelf to be ignored and gather dust.
Thanks for having candor, being honest, and open with discussion. Don't go away from this and then not think about it again, but also don't go away from this and mull over it to a point where you distress yourself. Be inspired for change, don't be disheartened, and look after yourself. Without your self-care and everyone else's self-care, the future isn't going to change.
Ben Brien:
For anyone that's involved in lived and living experience work and, for example, trying to bring about change in suicide prevention in their community through the work of this strategy, through the work of the toolkit and the information, I would say three things around self-care. Know yourself, your time, and value yourself, your experience, and be really mindful. I always encourage folk to think about, "Is the work that I'm doing meaningful?" And really don't contribute more if something isn't relevant. Be very conscious of your own time. The other part I would say is to really speak to peers, connect with your friends, connect with your peer colleagues. Self-awareness and connection to other people is really important. And the third one I would say is it is okay to not be okay when it comes to some of these things. For me, a lot of the time, we also have an imposter syndrome.
People are doing great work. I'm not maybe as refined or articulate as I need to be, and I think that's important. It's okay to be conscious of your self-care. Myself as a person, with lived and living experience of suicide, if I have a really crap day, I've provided a lot of lived experience contributions, and I want to go home, and I want to eat a whole Domino's pizza, and I want to watch a really crappy movie and recharge, that is completely okay because at the end of the day, it's lived and living experience, and it is okay to be human, and self-care looks different for each person. I think that's what is most important for people is to take care of yourself.
Alex Hains:
One thing I would ask of you, if you don't mind, is to let us know how these conversations go, good or bad. We would really appreciate hearing how you find the strategy, what does resonate with you, what doesn't, where your conversation goes. And if there's anything in particular you think that we could do at the National Suicide Prevention Office to support your community or communities like it to make progress, then we'd be all ears. So please do let us know how it goes.