Suicide rates and attempts are troublingly high in people with bipolar disorders (BD). 25% to 50% will attempt suicide at least once during their lifetime, and 8% to 19% will complete suicide (Latalova et al, 2014). Many people with BD use social media, providing informal peer support online. Twitter may be an effective means of reaching this population for suicide prevention. A collaboration between @unsuicide and @CREST_BD will host the #MHSM chat on World Suicide Prevention Day, September 10, 2014, at 5:00pm PDT/8:00pm EDT, with the theme of self-management for suicide prevention in bipolar disorder. The purpose is to facilitate dialogue on experiencing suicidality with bipolar disorder, develop resiliency skills, generate new knowledge, and address stigma. The tweetchat will be facilitated by @unsuicide with participating clinicians, academics, and peer researchers from @CREST_BD (a collaborative, participatory research network).

1. Join us for a Tweetchat!
Tweetchats provide a platform for global dialoguing and digital
knowledge exchange among people managing mental health
conditions, family, and clinicians.

2. Bipolar disorder in Canada:
• In 2012 approximately 1.5% of Canadians aged 15 and
older met the criteria for bipolar disorder.
Bipolar disorder and suicide:
• 25% to 50% of people living with bipolar disorder will
attempt suicide at least once during their lifetime.
• 8%-19% will complete this attempt.

3. Join our #MHSM chat on September 10th!
Weekly Mental Health &
Social Media #mhsm chats are
held on Wednesdays
@5pm PT/8pm ET. New topics
and facilitators welcomed.
#MHSM reaches close to 1.9 million
impressions per week on Twitter!
#MHSM is one of the most commonly-used mental
health hashtags on Twitter