EVERYONE
CAN SAVE
A LIFE The Buddy Up program brings suicide out of the darkness
In 2018, there were 2,880 suicides
in Canada. Three out of four were
men – the majority between 45 and
65 years old.
Maybe right now your co-worker is
struggling, caught in situations that are
becoming too difficult to fight alone.
How can you recognize this and reach
out a hand? The Buddy Up program, a
men’s suicide prevention communications
campaign, was launched to answer
these questions.
“A few years ago, the Calgary Herald
Xmas fund and 100 Men Who Give
a Damn donated money to help start
a campaign around the issue of men
and suicide,” said Akash Asif, external
relations director with the Centre for
Suicide Prevention. “In fall 2019, we
brought in men from different demographics
and backgrounds to discuss
how to recognize when someone is
struggling, why men have a more difficult
time reaching out to their buddies
and how to change this.”
The first round of advisory groups
finished in April 2020, and the
Buddy Up pilot campaign launched in
September. Three months later, over
100 champions across Canada had
joined the campaign.
How to Buddy Up
“Traditionally, social supports are geared
towards women and children with very
few focused on men,” said Asif. “Buddy
Up was developed to help bridge that gap
and open up conversations between men
and their buddies.”
The first step is to pay attention.
Someone having thoughts of suicide
may not be visibly stressed, but changes
in behaviour could be warning signs:
becoming more irritable or distant, drinking
more than usual, talking about how
much life sucks. Because men spend up
to 60 per cent of their waking hours at
work, co-workers are in a great position
to spot warning signs.
The second step is to have a conversation.
It takes a lot of courage to
ask directly, “Are you thinking about
suicide?” And then keep going, don’t
change the subject.
This conversation isn’t an easy one
– that’s why the Buddy Up infographic,
available on the program’s website, suggests
having the conversation in a comfortable,
low-stress setting, shoulder-toshoulder
instead of face-to-face, such
as while on the phone, in a text or in
a vehicle.
To facilitate conversations while driving
together in a vehicle, the Buddy Up
program created branded air fresheners.
“Driving in a shared vehicle is generally
a comfortable setting,” said Asif.
“Hanging a car freshener with the
Buddy Up logo gives an opportunity to
have a conversation about the program
and create a safe space, and even more
important, show you are a safe person
to talk to.”
Asif notes that there are many ways
to take part in the Buddy Up campaign
depending on how much involvement
an individual or company wishes to have.
“Check out our infographic guide at
buddyup.ca and post it at the worksite.
It shows clear and practical ways to
approach the subject. Maybe publish
communications pieces in newsletters
or on social media; encourage others
to become involved as champions. It’s
By Deb Draper
“Construction is
male-dominant,
and typically
it’s ‘shut up and
get to work,
don’t talk about
feelings.’ But
everyone has
bad days.”
– Mike Principalli,
Volker Stevin
Contracting Ltd.
12 www.albertaheavy.ca