Event Date: Oct 12, 2022



Recording | Related Resources

Learning Objectives: 

By the end of this presentation, participants will be able to:
  1. Discuss the prevalence, correlates, risk and protective factors associated with suicide among older adults;
  2. Consider the critical role of routine suicide risk detection and response among older adults receiving community support and healthcare services;
  3. Demonstrate familiarity with validated tools and approaches for detecting suicide risk among older adults. 

This event is brought to you by the South East Knowledge Exchange Network.



Presenter(s):

Dr. Marnin Heisel, Ph.D., C.Psych.

Dr. Marnin Heisel is a Clinical Psychologist and Full Professor in the Departments of Psychiatry and of Epidemiology & Biostatistics in the Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry at The University of Western University, a Scientist with the Lawson Health Research Institute (in London, Ontario), and an adjunct faculty member with the Center for the Study and Prevention of Suicide at the University of Rochester Medical Center in New York State.  

Marnin’s research focuses primarily on the promotion of mental health and well-being and the prevention of suicide among older adults and other at-risk groups.  He has developed and/or evaluated suicide risk assessment scales and interventions, and has received government and foundation-based career awards, grant support, or contracts for this work, including from the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), Centre for Aging and Brain Health Innovation, Lawson Health Research Institute, Movember Foundation, Ontario Mental Health Foundation, Ontario Ministry of Research and Innovation, Public Health Agency of Canada, and Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.  A Fellow of the Gerontological Society of America, he is the recipient of career awards on suicide prevention, including the 2011 Edwin Shneidman Award from the American Association of Suicidology and the 2010 Canadian Association for Suicide Prevention (CASP) Research Award, and on aging, including a Betty Havens Award for Knowledge Translation in Aging and a mid-career award in Aging, both from CIHR.  

Marnin has served on boards and committees advocating for enhancing mental healthcare and suicide prevention.  He is Canada’s Past National Representative to the International Association for Suicide Prevention, immediate Past-Chair of the Geropsychology and Aging Section of the Canadian Psychological Association, and has previously served as Secretary to the American Association of Suicidology and Vice President and Research Committee Chair of the Canadian Association for Suicide Prevention.  He has contributed to the development and dissemination of National and International reports, guidelines, and position papers on suicide prevention among older adults, military veterans, first-responders, men in their middle years, and on media reporting and suicide.

Marnin frequently gives media interviews, and workshops and presentations on suicide and its prevention to public, professional, and government audiences.  He has recently developed, and serves as planning committee chair, for “SUPER-KT” an online Suicide Prevention Education and Research-Knowledge Translation Series.