Kirsten Fogg is an Australian-Canadian award-winning essayist, journalist and public speaker focussed on suicide prevention, life promotion and empowering women.
Photo credit: Dahlia Katz
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Dance party at suicide prevention conference
I wasn’t sure what to expect when I flew to Vancouver for my first suicide prevention conference. I certainly didn’t expect a dance party. I was apprehensive. What if this conference was just too much for me to handle? If you’re thinking the same thing, here’s what it was really like at the conference. I felt validated and empowered to make change. And yes, there was dancing!
Starting something new is scary; Suicide prevention isn’t
Since 1987, when my teenage brother died by suicide, I didn’t talk openly about him or his death to protect myself because in the beginning when I did tell people, some of them pummelled me with horrible chastising words. I don’t need to share those words with you here. If you are like me, a suicide loss survivor or a person with lived experience of suicide, you know what I mean.
Garden Inventories by Mariam Pirbhai
Garden Inventories is about so much more than green stuff. I learned about the history of parts of southern Ontario and Pakistan, about apples and roses and mulberry trees, as well as about Mughal and Persian civilisations. It made me think about my different lands and the nostalgia I carry for each of them.
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Writer Out Of Residence
Your portable inspiration to read, write and build your creative confidence.
As an immigrant and an Australian I acknowledge my homeland Meanjin, also known as Brisbane, and pay my respects to the traditional custodians of the land, the Turrbal and Yuggera people, to their elders, past present and emerging. I also respectfully acknowledge the Mississaugas of the Anishinabeg, the Haudenosaunee Confederacy and the Wendat people, the traditional custodians of the land on which I currently live, write and walk, also called Toronto.
If you or someone you know is in crisis or you’re concerned about them, call or text 988 (Canada’s new Suicide Crisis Helpline). Kids Help Phone call 1-800-668-6868 or text CONNECT. Indigenous Peoples call 1-855-242-3310. If you’re in imminent danger call 911 or go to Emergency.
Kirsten Fogg
WRITER OUT OF RESIDENCE
