Dr. Donna Ferguson

Helping people find their resilience—and finding opportunities to celebrate those victories—are what fuel Dr. Ferguson.

For the past three years, Dr. Donna Ferguson, a clinical psychologist in CAMH’s Work Stress and Health Program, has been helping a female first responder get back to work. After a long, sometimes uncertain, road, the first responder was successfully discharged from the program and returned to her job full time.

“It’s a game changer when you see someone through the return-to-work process,” says Dr. Ferguson. “There were times when we both had our doubts, but when you stay the course and trust each other, it’s really inspiring.”

Almost 20 years into her career at CAMH, Dr. Ferguson continues to put workers who have experienced mental health challenges on the path to recovery every single day.

“As clinicians, we’re here to help people. That means helping them not just have a quality of life, but also helping them stay alive,” says Dr. Ferguson. “Our goal is to help them get from a place of despair to a place of hope, where they’re full of life.”

Dr. Ferguson’s clients come from all walks of life, including those involved in Workplace Safety Insurance Board incidents and others who have experienced trauma on the job. She considers suicide prevention a critical part of her work. In addition to helping develop the protocol for suicide risk assessment in her team’s clinic at CAMH, she leads the orientation for new students and staff in the clinic about suicide risk.

Dr. Ferguson has conducted many assessments where clients are reluctant talk about suicide. They become withdrawn and worried about the consequences. She explains to them that it’s normal to have passive thoughts and educates them on the different levels of risk.

“One life lost is too many,” says Dr. Ferguson. “We’ve probably all seen some level of suicidality, whether in our personal lives or from a professional perspective. What’s most important is we talk about it openly.”

“A common myth about suicide is that talking about it puts ideas in people’s heads. But I see the positive impact of normalizing these conversations,” says Dr. Ferguson. “We need to be transparent about our conversations around suicide. I’m very transparent about my conversations with clients around suicide. And they appreciate it.”

According to Dr. Ferguson, there is no better place than CAMH to lead and normalize the conversation about suicide.

“CAMH has done so much to shape protocols around suicide and suicide risk, and develop training and best practices. We are leaders, we are experts in this area.” says Dr. Ferguson. “People look to us for hope. We are here. We can help.”

This story was part of our Not suicide. Not today. campaign in 2020.