A new Forest of Hope will be planted in Winnipeg, Canada on World Suicide Prevention Day. An event led by the Winnipeg Suicide Prevention Network (WSPN) and funded by the Canadian Association for Suicide Prevention (CASP) will help create a Forest of Hope in the city of Winnipeg on September 10.  

James Kelm, LivingWorks’ Training and Delivery Manager of Western Canada, represents LivingWorks as a member of the WSPN and helps participate in life-promotion activities. 

“I think this event will help people remember that we can promote hope in our communities, and we should pause to think about life promotion and make it a priority – not just on World Suicide Prevention Day, but always,” says Kelm. 

This will be the third Forest of Hope event from CASP, with trees having been planted in Ontario and Halifax in previous years. The forest in Winnipeg will be comprised of 100 new trees and two benches.  

“There will be signage to dedicate the site, and two benches engraved with the words hope and healing,” says Kelm. “To acknowledge the diversity of our community, multiple languages will be used to display these words.  We intend this to be a space for all people.” 

The Forest of Hope event takes place in Whittier Park on September 10, from 10:00 am – 1:00 pm local time. Kelm will also be running a free LivingWorks safeTALK workshop in coordination with this event and Suicide Prevention Awareness Month on September 26. Details can be found below. 

“One of the primary ways we promote life and prevent suicide in our community is to teach LivingWorks ASIST and LivingWorks safeTALK and have LivingWorks Start available. Being present to represent LivingWorks at this event is really important,” says Kelm.  

To learn more about the Forest of Hope events, head to CASP’s webpage.

If you want gold-standard suicide prevention skills training to help keep your community safer from suicide, head to our training page.