Antoon Leenaars
Antoon A. Leenaars (born 1951)[1] is a Canadian clinical and forensic psychologist practicing in Windsor, Ontario. He is known for his research on suicide.[2]
Career
[edit]Leenaars wrote a book about suicide in the military, which he has called a growing problem.[3] He has also dismissed the claim, often made by Canadian politicians, that the country's military has a lower suicide rate than the general population, a claim he describes as "whitewashing".[4] Subsequent research by the Canadian Forces themselves supported Leenaars' claim.
In April 2016, "Key Findings from 2013 Canadian Forces Mental Health Survey" was published in a peer-reviewed journal, The Canadian Journal of Psychiatry.[5] Not only suicide, but suicidal attempts, and suicidal ideation were found to be high (above the general population), as were PTSD, anxiety, depression, and other costs of service.[6]
After Kelly Johnson, a police officer from London, Ontario, shot and killed a retiree and then killed herself, London's police department hired Leenaars to investigate the homicide-suicide, and he subsequently wrote a book about suicide and murder-suicide among police. The book, Suicide and Homicide-Suicide Among Police, was published in 2010.[7]
Leenaars has continued his work in suicide prevention among police and other high risk groups (e.g., military personnel, Indigenous populations); he was among four experts invited to the critical issues in policing series "An Occupational Risk: What every police agency should do to prevent suicide among its officers", hosted by the NYPD-HQ and Police Executive Research Forum.[8]
His most recent book on death scene investigations), whether a death is natural, accident, suicide or homicide (NASH), is entitled The Psychological Autopsy (2017).
Honors, awards, and positions
[edit]Leenaars is the former president of the Canadian Association for Suicide Prevention (CASP) and the American Association of Suicidology (AAS) (of which he is the only non-American to be president). He was the founding editor-in-chief of the peer-reviewed journal Archives of Suicide Research. He has received, among other awards, the International Association for Suicide Prevention's Stengel Award, CASP's Research Award, and AAS's Shneidman Award.[9]
References
[edit]- ^ "Antoon Leenaars". Library of Congress. Retrieved 22 June 2016.
- ^ Anderssen, Erin (24 September 2011). "Teen suicide: 'We're not going to sit in silence'". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved 22 June 2016.
- ^ "Military suicides sadly familiar for Windsor vets, family". CBC News. 5 December 2013. Retrieved 22 June 2016.
- ^ Cobb, Chris (7 November 2014). "Military suicides an 'epidemic,' says Canadian expert". Ottawa Citizen. Retrieved 22 June 2016.
- ^ The Canadian Journal of Psychiatry (Volume 61, Supplement 1, April 2016)
- ^ McFarlane, 2016
- ^ Maloney, Patrick (17 August 2010). "Police murder-suicide an 'epidemic'". London Free Press. Retrieved 22 June 2016.
- ^ Police Executive Research Forum, October, 2019
- ^ "Antoon Leenaars". Canadian Association for Suicide Prevention Conference. Archived from the original on 8 August 2016. Retrieved 22 June 2016.
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Leenaars, A. (2017). The psychological autopsy: A roadmap for uncovering the barren bones of the suicide's mind". New York, NY & London, UK: Routledge.(https://routledge.com>Leenaars>book) Retrieved 7 March 2021. McFarlane, A. (20160. Accountability for psychological costs of military service.The Canadian Journal of Psychiatry, 61, Suppl 1, 7S-9S.(https://www.ncbi.nih.go.pmc.articles>PMC4800471) Retrieved 7 March 2021. Police Executive Research Forum (Oct, 2019). An occupational risk: What every police agency should do to prevent suicide among its officers". Washington, DC: Police Executive Research Forum.(https://www.policeform.org>assets>PreventOfficerSuicide) Retrieved 7 March 2021.
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