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Card campaign fights suicide in North

Program encourages young people with problems to ask for help

NUNATSIAQ NEWS

Mary Simon, Canada's former circumpolar ambassador, is promoting a program for Arctic children that would distribute cards with helpline numbers printed on them. (FILE PHOTO)

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Keep a Yellow Ribbon, ask-for-help card on hand, and it could help if you're ever faced with depression or suicidal feelings.

That's what a youth-inspired, anti-suicide program believes it can accomplish through the distribution of simple cards, with an "It's Ok to Ask4Help" message on them.

Mary Simon, chair of the Arctic Children and Youth Foundation, wants to promote these cards as a way to reduce the levels of suicide in the North.

The card is actually a small calling card that can be a means of communication and asking for help.

The card carries a small message that tells young people there are people who care, and that, if they don't what to ask for help directly, then they should give the card to a counsellor, teacher, friend, doctor or parent and say "I need to use this card." A toll-free kids' help line number is also listed (1-800-688-6868).

The Yellow Ribbon program was founded in 1994 by the parents of a teen, Mike Emme, who took his life because his friends and family say he did not know how to ask for help.

The card provides direct and clear instructions to the person who receives it to take the card's message seriously.

The yellow ribbon on the card was inspired by the colour of Mike's yellow mustang.

Before his funeral, his friends handed out 500 similar cards, and since then, the cards have been in demand.

The Arctic Children and Youth Foundation's mission is to assist Arctic children and youth to reach their full education, social and economic potential.

A news release says in coming years, the focus of the foundation's work will be on mental health and making sure that the interests of Arctic children and youth are represented and heard.

Contact the Web site at www.yellowribbon.org for more information or the Arctic Children and Youth Foundation, 10 Wellington St., Rm. 612, Gatineau, QC KIA OH4.

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