Programme

Dear Colleagues,

The Association québécoise de prévention du suicide (AQPS), in collaboration with the Canadian Association for Suicide Prevention, invites you to participate in the Canadian Congress on Suicide Prevention, to be held under the theme “Joining forces to prevent suicide: Suicide and addictions”.

Among people who have died by suicide, some were addicted to alcohol, drugs or gambling, while others were addicted to the Internet or other activities. In many cases, such people were also plagued with other mental problems. This year’s Congress will focus on the pathology, risk factors, assessment and diagnostic tools and treatment options for these high risk individuals. When a suicidal crisis occurs, it is often rooted in a long history of psychological distress including addictive behaviours and problems, compounded by an acute dearth of personal relationships, and often a total lack of social support. The neurotoxic effects of certain substances also form an integral part of the clinical picture. The purpose of this Congress is to improve interventions with people in suicidal crises, who tend to be underrepresented among suicide studies in Canada.

The opening day of the Congress will be devoted to describing this clinical complexity. The second day will focus on determining the best practices to use with people in suicidal crises, and to identify the ethical issues raised by the complexity of these cases. The Congress will conclude with a consideration of this same problem among First Nations, the Inuit and Métis, as well as a discussion on the place accorded to suicide and addiction comorbidity in national strategies developed around the world.

In the tradition of the congresses organized by the AQPS, we wish to provide stakeholders with a space for reflection with a view to exploring the complexity of suicide and addictions under a new light, as well as creating a venue for exchanging on new and different perspectives.

To this end, plenary conferences will be given by speakers from various disciplines who, it is to be hoped, will steer us toward new and unprecedented opportunities for reflection that will perhaps allow us to contemplate new perspectives of intervention. The workshop presentations will feature suicide and addiction specialists, researchers in the field, stakeholders and clinicians who will offer parallel conferences.

This promises to be a very interesting Congress, one that, we hope, will be extremely fruitful in terms of exchanging ideas and initiating new collaborative efforts between stakeholders.

We are counting on your participation and greatly look forward to the opportunity to meet you.

Sylvie Nadeau,
President, Organizing Committee
AQPS/CAPS2008 Congress
Executive Director
Centre de prévention du suicide de Québec

Richard Boyer
President, Scientific Committee
AQPS/ACPS 2008 Congress
Acting Director
Centre de recherche Fernand-Seguin
Hôpital Louis-H Lafontaine
Université de Montréal

Adrian Hill
President, Canadian Association for Suicide Prevention

Timetable

Friday 24th	Saturday 25th	Sunday 26th	Monday 27th	Tuesday 28th	Wednesday 29th
Pre-Congress			Congress
Pre-Congress			Review of the situation	Promising practices	Perspectives
Pre-Congress day	Pre-Congress day	Pre-Congress day Registration in Congress	Opening conference	Conference	Conference
			Health Break	Health Break	Health Break
			Conference	Conference	Closing conference
			Workshop/ Free papers	Conference	Closing conference
			Lunch break and CASP AGA posters	Lunch break and posters
			Workshop/ Free papers	Conference
			Health Break	Health Break
			Conference	Workshop/ Free papers
		Welcoming cocktail	Benefit Dinner of the Fondation André Dédé Fortin	Gala evening

Programme

Dear Colleagues,

Timetable

Pre-Congress

Congress