Remarks by Allie Schlafer at World Suicide Prevention Day Candlelight Vigil

Hello and good evening. First, I would like to introduce myself. My name is Allie Schlafer and I am a current serving Peace Corps Response volunteer at both SASOD and Guyana Trans United, specializing in the field of mental health. For those who may not know, the Peace Corps is a volunteer program run by the United States government in efforts to address social and economic development worldwide.

As a volunteer, I will be working in collaboration with SASOD to strengthen and support the staff in addressing mental health concerns within the community. The comments and views I express tonight are in no way affiliated with Peace Corps but are my personal opinions based on experience working in community mental health and also individual experiences of losing dear friends who have taken their own life.

We are gathered here on World Suicide Prevention Day to address the difficult and painful subject of suicide, a reality which fractures the happiness of too many families, individuals, and communities across Guyana. The loss of a family member, friend, coworker or peer through suicide is a devastating experience. Those who remain after a suicide are often overwhelmed by feelings of sadness, hurt, and regret; they struggle to adapt or understand a life robbed of the presence of a loved one, often times grappling with the simple question – why?

SASOD raises LGBT Mental Health at Cuso Volunteer Forum

On December 4, 2014, SASOD’s Managing Director, Joel Simpson, gave a presentation on lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) human rights issues to SASOD partner organization Cuso International, an Ottawa-based international development NGO, at the Grand Coastal Hotel on the East Coast of Demerara.  He was followed by sociologist, Dr. Ryan Higgitt, providing Cuso with an overview on his research on LGBT mental health in Guyana. Dr. Higgitt is a Cuso Volunteer currently attached to SASOD as Mental Health Researcher.  Simpson drew attention to the discrimination faced by LGBT Guyanese and how it leads to mental health issues, while Higgitt underscored how recent statistics offered by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Pan-American Health Organization (PAHO) illustrate the way suicide mortality tends to take on specific socio-historical patterns that call into question fundamental tenets of a modern medical model which reduce mental illness to an ‘individual’ problem.  

Simpson (standing) presenting at the Cuso Volunteer Forum on December 4, 2014