Waterloo and Wellington regions are the latest communities to sign on to a national research project aimed at reducing the impacts of suicide in Canada.

The Roots of Hope suicide prevention project is a five-year campaign by the Mental Health Commission of Canada. In August, the MHCC announced a partnership with the Waterloo Region Suicide Prevention Council and Wellington County’s local suicide prevention campaign, Here4Hope.

Each of the seven communities taking part in the project have their own local suicide prevention efforts and strategies, but under Roots of Hope, those methods will be shared with connected communities and national researchers.

Over the five-year project, data will be collected and compiled, including best practices and suicide prevention guidelines and tools, to support the eventual implementation of a national prevention model.

“It’s really a research project and we are collecting data for the commission,” said Cecilia Roberts, the suicide prevention project lead at the Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA) Waterloo Wellington.

Although there’s no funding attached to the Roots of Hope project, it puts communities in contact with each other and with national-level researchers on suicide prevention.

“As a community-based agency that’s on the ground trying to do work it’s hard to stay in touch with the research,” Roberts said, adding closer contact with the latest research is a big help.

Roberts also leads Here4Hope. This month, the project's awareness campaign will officially kick off, including a website launch and advertising around the city.

“It’s just about knowing the signs, starting the conversation and connecting the person to help.

“We want to make sure people understand that suicide is about pain and that anyone can notice someone is struggling and can start that conversation and connect them.”