Guest Speaker, introduced by Dallas Chapple
The guest speaker was Linda Matherne Founder of the Power of Second Choice. The topic was suicide. The speaker began her presentation by sharing a highly personal experience: the story of two 17 year old girls who attempted suicide. She was one of those girls. The severity of the problem is evident in the number of suicides in Canada and the United States. There are currently 4,000 suicides annually in Canada, and in the case of successful suicide attempts, male frequency is five times greater than female. The speaker stated suicide to be in her judgment to 100% preventable. To address the problem of suicide the speaker stressed the importance of ‘empowerment’ as it permits each individual to make a difference in the life of someone who may be contemplating suicide. Effectively, they are given the power to make a second choice. Empowerment is linked to what she termed ‘acknowledgement’. All of us need to acknowledge the importance of the family member or friend, not someday, but today. By acknowledgement you can make a difference and with empowerment you can get the family member or friend some help. The speaker took a variety of questions and concluded by helping members grasp the meaning of ‘acknowledgement’ with the children’s story of Billy and the Dragon. For more information visit: www.powerofthesecondchoice.org

The speaker was thanked by John Snively.