In response to public feedback, the Windsor-Essex County branch of the Canadian Mental Health Association is expanding suicide prevention awareness week to a month.
Several activities and events are planned next month to focus on the serious issue of suicide which has taken more than 150 lives in Windsor-Essex from 2012 to 2016.
The theme this year is 'you are not alone.'
A 5k walk is scheduled for September 16 at St. Clair College, Cainerfest is set for September 7-8 and a screening of the Ripple Effect which documents suicide prevention, is set for September 10.
Association CEO Claudia den Boer says the goal is to help, give hope and heal.
Officials launch suicide prevention awareness month. August 22, 2018 (Photo by AM800's Teresinha Medeiros)
Ryan Peter lost his younger brother 26-year-old Bryce Peter to suicide in the summer of 2017 — he says the death caught the entire family off guard.
"Left the family pretty devastated and left us with a lot of confusion and we didn't understand why he decided to take his life by the age of 26."
Ryan Peter lost his 26-year-old brother Bryce Peter to suicide in the summer of 2017. He says his brother's death devastated the family.
"He didn't have too many warning signs so it caught us off guard, we wanted to put some of the puzzle pieces together, it is a puzzle that will never complete, we just kinda wanted to make sense of it."
Statistics show, men committ suicide three times more often than women.
Warning signs can include a significant change in behaviour, increased risk-taking and anger, hostility and irritability.
An average of 10 people die by suicide each day in Canada.