I was a crisis intervenor, a social worker, at the beginning of the 1990s. By Raymond Viger It was just before the Casino de Montréal opened. Once it opened, my colleague and I were swamped. There were lots of interventions to be made with compulsive […] See more
Note: In May of 2021, Jean-Pierre Bellemare was found guilty of another crime committed in 2018, and is currently in prison. I came to cross this bridge, the very same where the man who gave me life had decided to end his. Tears shrouded my […] See more
Suicide isn’t a narrow issue that affects only the vulnerable and the damaged. A self-inflicted death has many victims. It is a tear in the fabric of society. It is a sign that we, collectively, have in some way failed our fellows. More practically, it has long been established […] See more
I awake in a sweat, dazed and disoriented. I turn my pillow over to the dry, cold side underneath, and think: a few seconds ago, I was walking along Sherbrooke Street on a sunny summer’s day, rummaging through second-hand bookstores. Not now. My eyes adjust […] See more
Even though it’s been a while since I’ve torn my shirt, as the saying goes in French, over this issue, how Québec manages its provincial lottery system is one of the things our government should not be proud of. By Raymond Viger Media articles have […] See more
Physical Sleep cycle disrupted (insomnia, constant sleeping) Change in appetite (bulimia, overeating, undereating) Change in energy level (extreme fatigue, hyperactivity) Psychological Inability to find pleasure in anything Loss of interest in anything and everything Sadness Irritability, anger, rage Loss of sexual desire Frequent mood swings: […] See more
Any difficult loss we experience in life comes at an emotional cost. Feelings build up. You have to take the time to let those feelings out into the open. The human mechanism includes safety valves: venting is in our nature. Frustration, anger, feelings of abandonment […] See more
My biggest sticking point was with society. I idealized society. I saw my city, my community, my province as a place where every citizen could fit in and play their role, from the greatest to the least. My Quebec society was an equitable, just place: […] See more
People from different schools of thought within the suicide prevention community have various methods of operating, but we all agree on one thing: young people contemplating suicide don’t use suicide hotlines. They usually don’t reach out beyond their peer group at all. Amongst the young, […] See more
I have had the great privilege of working as a suicide prevention counselor among the Inuit of Quebec. Their 14 villages are strung along a thousand kilometers of some of the most desolate-looking land on planet Earth, in Quebec’s far north. In conjunction with McGill […] See more
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