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Matias Gay, RN, is a suicidologist, researcher, author, suicide-risk consultant, and PhD student at Dalhousie University whose work centers on understanding suicidality through narrative identity, storytelling, person-centred care, and his original Existential Network of Suicidal Identity (ENSI) framework. He is the author of Integrating Narrative Identity in Suicidology: A Clinical Exploration of Story, Identity, and Suicide, recently released through Routledge, which advances a clinical and theoretical approach to suicide prevention grounded in story, identity, meaning, and lived experience.

Matias has built a strong international publication record, with work appearing in journals such as the Journal of Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing, Journal of the American Psychiatric Nurses Association, Mortality, Death Studies, The Humanistic Psychologist, Issues in Mental Health Nursing, Crisis, and Vulnerable Children and Youth Studies. His recent publications explore youth suicide risk, family involvement, narrative identity, psychodynamics, temporality, self-harm symbolism, and suicide assessment in nursing practice.

He is also the founder of Understanding Suicidology, a public-facing education, consultation, and knowledge translation platform. Through the website, he runs Understanding Suicidology: Research & Practice, an open-access online journal and resource space dedicated to making suicide-related scholarship, clinical reflection, community education, and practice-oriented resources freely available. Its mission is grounded in the belief that knowledge should not remain locked behind academic walls, and that the first priority of knowledge should be to help us become better, more compassionate human beings.

Beyond publishing, Matias is a frequent invited speaker, educator, and consultant, with presentations delivered at the American Association of Suicidology and across university, hospital, police, and community training settings. His work has been recognized through multiple awards and scholarships, including the IWK Mental Health Champion Award, Dalhousie’s Above and Beyond Award, the IWK Quality Research Summit awards, Dalhousie entry scholarships, the Mary Inglis Scholarship, and the DIVERT Mental Health Fellowship at York University. He also serves on a national expert roster advising the Public Health Agency of Canada on suicide prevention.

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 Scholarly and Professional Presentations

(Oral unless otherwise indicated; first listed author is presenter unless otherwise underlined)

Gay,. M (2026). Tik-Tok, and Suicide/Self-Harm Aesthetics [Poster Session]. Dalhousie University. CTNHR 10th Anniversary Poster Session, Halifax, NS, Canada.

​Gay, M (2026). Integrating Narrative Identity in Suicide Risk Assessment [Seminar]. Dalhousie University. Faculty of Social Work, Halifax, NS, Canada.

Gay, M. (2025). Examining the perceptions and attitudes of Nova Scotia’s healthcare workers toward suicidal youth and their families [Conference presentation]. American Association of Suicidology, 58th National Conference, Ohio, United States.

Gay, M. (2025). Suicidal countertransference: The unconscious language of emotions [Conference presentation]. American Association of Suicidology, 58th National Conference, Ohio, United States.

Gay, M. (2025). Who are you? Exploring the existential network of suicidal identity and the deconstructed self[Conference presentation]. American Association of Suicidology, 58th National Conference, Ohio, United States.

Gay, M. (2024). The narrative crisis model: An empirical framework for the assessment of suicidality [Conference presentation]. American Association of Suicidology, 57th National Conference, Las Vegas, NV, United States.

Gay, M. (2025). Responding to suicide risk: A collaborative approach [Invited seminar]. Antigonish Police Department Seminar, Antigonish, NS, Canada.

Gay, M. (2025). Examining the perceptions and attitudes of Nova Scotia’s healthcare workers toward suicidal youth and their families [Conference presentation]. IWK Quality Summit, Halifax, NS, Canada.

Gay, M. (2025). Suicidality in adolescence: Tools to measure and strategies to mitigate the risk [Invited training]. Dalhousie University Physician Community Training Program, Antigonish, NS, Canada.

Gay, M. (2025). Suicidality in adolescence: Tools to measure and strategies to mitigate the risk [Invited training]. Dalhousie University Department of Medicine Community Program, Nova Scotia, Canada.

Gay, M. (2025). Assessment for capability and capacity of suicide [Guest lecture]. D’Youville University, MScOT Program, Buffalo, NY, United States.

Gay, M. (2025). Child & adolescent suicide-risk formulation [Continuing education course]. Mental Health Academy (Online).

Gay, M. (2025). Formulating suicide-risk in youth and adolescents: Understanding suicide from a phenomenological approach [Guest lecture]. Dalhousie University Faculty of Nursing and Social Work, Halifax, NS, Canada.

Gay, M. (2025). Exploring the suicidal narrative [Invited seminar]. IWK Community Mental Health Clinic, Halifax, NS, Canada.

Gay, M. (2025). Lethality assessments and interventions for self-injurious behaviors [In-service training]. IWK Adolescent Intensive Services, Halifax, NS, Canada.

Gay, M. (2025). Child & adolescent suicide-risk implications [Program orientation session]. IWK Mental Health & Addictions Program Orientation, Halifax, NS, Canada.

Gay, M. (2024). Family environment and suicide risk: How to foster healthy children [Invited presentation]. Nova Scotia College of Social Workers, National Day of the Child, Nova Scotia, Canada.

Gay, M. (2024). Suicide-risk implications for inpatient psychiatric settings [Continuing education workshop]. IWK Acute Psychiatric Inpatient Nursing Continuing Education Workshop, Halifax, NS, Canada.

Gay, M. (2024). Understanding suicide-risk in youth populations [Grand rounds]. IWK Pediatric Internal Medicine Grand Rounds, Halifax, NS, Canada.

Gay, M. (2024). Lethality and suicide risk in emergency settings: Using evidence-based practice to inform interventions[Grand rounds]. IWK Pediatric Emergency Medicine Grand Rounds, Halifax, NS, Canada.

Gay, M. (2024). Introducing the narrative-crisis model for suicide risk assessment [Grand rounds]. Dalhousie University Psychiatric Grand Rounds, Halifax, NS, Canada.

Gay, M. (2024). Dynamic child and adolescent suicide-risk formulation [Seminar]. Dalhousie University R5 Psychiatry Seminar, Halifax, NS, Canada.

Gay, M. (2024). Suicide stress-diathesis model and cultural implications [Master’s seminar]. Dalhousie University Department of Social Work, Halifax, NS, Canada.

Gay, M. (2024). Understanding the suicidal narrative [Bachelor’s seminar]. Dalhousie University Department of Social Work, Halifax, NS, Canada.

Gay, M. (2024). Child and adolescent suicide-risk implications [Bachelor’s seminar]. Dalhousie University Department of Nursing, Halifax, NS, Canada.

Gay, M. (2024). Bereavement support, suicide-risk screening, and occupational risk of public safety personnel[Workshop]. HRM Police Victim Services Workshop, Halifax, NS, Canada.

Gay, M. (2024). Applying the narrative crisis model for suicide-risk formulation [Invited training]. Nova Scotia Provincial Substance Use Disorders Team, Nova Scotia, Canada.

Gay, M. (2024). Multimodal suicide-risk assessments for clinical practice [Invited seminar]. IWK Community Mental Health & Addictions Seminar, Halifax, NS, Canada.

Publications

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• Gay, M. (2024). Trait vulnerabilities and stressful life events: implications for youth suicide risk. Vulnerable Children and Youth Studies, 1–19. https://doi.org/10.1080/17450128.2024.2446331

• Gay M. (2025). Enhancing youth suicide prevention: The critical role of family involvement in screening, intervention, and postvention. Families, systems & health : the journal of collaborative family healthcare, 10.1037/fsh0000994. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1037/fsh0000994

• Gay M. (2025). Storytelling in Care: Leveraging Narrative Identity and Suicide Narratives for Advanced Suicide Risk Assessments. Journal of the American Psychiatric Nurses Association. 0(0). doi:10.1177/10783903251321502

• Gay, M. (2025). Suicide-risk implications in legalising medical assistance in dying for mental disorders. Mortality, 1–19. https://doi.org/10.1080/13576275.2025.2481265

• Gay, M. (2025). Enhancing person-centred care in suicide prevention: A nursing perspective. Journal of Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1111/jpm.13168

• Gay, M. (2025, April 28). The Narrative Crisis Model: A new approach to understanding suicidality. Canadian Nurse. https://www.canadian-nurse.com/blogs/cn-content/2025/04/28/narrative-crisis-model

• Gay, M., Moniz, T., Bond, T., & Dorey, R. (2025). Examining the perceptions and attitudes of Nova Scotia's healthcare workers toward suicidal youth and their families. Crisis: The Journal of Crisis Intervention and Suicide Prevention, 46(2), 123–132. https://doi.org/10.1027/0227-5910/a000998

• Gay, M. (2025). The Suicidal Clock: Temporal Constriction and the Chronological Collapse of Narrative Identity. Illness, Crisis & Loss, 0(0). https://doi.org/10.1177/10541373251350201

• Gay, M. (2025). Speaking to the self or others? Exploring existential, relational, and narrative identity in suicide notes using thematic and psychodynamic analysis. Death Studies, 1–15. https://doi.org/10.1080/07481187.2025.2537975

• Gay, M. (2025). Reconstructing the final narrative: how psychological autopsies reconstruct the final narratives of youth across diverse sociocultural context. Vulnerable Children and Youth Studies, 1–24. https://doi.org/10.1080/17450128.2025.2539730

• Gay, M. (2025). Drowning in water: The existential tension between consciousness and suffering in David Foster Wallace. The Humanistic Psychologist. Advance online publication. https://dx.doi.org/10.1037/hum0000398

• ​Gay, M. (2025). Mapping Character, Setting, and Script: Clinical Applications of Narrative Identity in Suicide Prevention. Issues in Mental Health Nursing, 1–12. https://doi.org/10.1080/01612840.2025.2553170

• Gay, M. (2025). Integrating Models of Suicidality in Canadian Suicidology: A Literature Review. Canadian Journal of Emergency Nursing, 48(2), 22–40. https://doi.org/10.29173/cjen246

• ​Gay, M. (2025). Becoming death: A thematic analysis of identity fragmentation and suicidal goal formation in Sylvia Plath’s final writings. The Humanistic Psychologist. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1037/hum0000403

• Gay, M. (2025). Feeling Risk: Countertransference-Informed Suicide Assessment in Nursing. Issues in Mental Health Nursing, 1–10. https://doi.org/10.1080/01612840.2025.2563644

• Gay, M.  (2026). A Narrative Essay for Suicide Risk Assessment. Journal of Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing  1–7. https://doi.org/10.1111/jpm.70091

• Gay, M. (2026). Algorithmic Affliction: Self-Harm Aesthetics and Suicidal Symbolism on TikTok. Evidence-Based Practice in Child and Adolescent Mental Health, 1–21. https://doi.org/10.1080/23794925.2026.2617583 

• Gay, M. (2026). Moral distortion and narrative death: an existential reading of mass murder-suicide. Mortality, 1–19. https://doi.org/10.1080/13576275.2026.2618719 Gay, M. (2026).

• Gay, M. (2026). A Layered Psychodynamic Model of Suicidal Identity Development: Identification and the Senses of Self. Issues in Mental Health Nursing, 1–12. https://doi.org/10.1080/01612840.2026.2612951

• ​Gay, M. (2026). Integrating narrative identity in suicidology: A clinical exploration of story, identity, and suicide (1st ed.). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003639985

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Knowledge Translation Articles

​Gay, M. (2026). When the lifeline goes dark: How suicide prevention in Canada lost its pulse. Understanding Suicidology: Research & Practice, 1(1), 1–13. 

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