Suicide Prevention Guide
*If you are worried about yourself (/or someone else) and the seriousness of your (/their) mental health needs, please reach out to the
988=National Crisis Hotline (Vets press 1)
888-628-9454 = Nacional de Prevención del Suicidio 844-493-8255= LGBTQIA+ Crisis Line (based in CO)*Mental Health America (Where to search for Emergency and Long-Term Mental Health Care for Free or Low Cost)
The high rate of suicides each year has caused many to know the trauma that suicide causes to friends and family. Of course we want everyone to know that putting your mental health first is always an option. You should always report to emergency services (911) if you are under the impression that someone may be attempting or may attempt suicide, but it is not your responsibility to be involved further.
*If you are in an Emergency situation please dial 911 and give them the proper instructions to come and support you in this situation.*
*If you are younger than 18 years of age, please understand that depression/suicide is not something to stay quiet about and you should talk with a trusted adult, & continue telling trusted adults until you get adequate action. This page is not here to encourage you to negatively interfere in the mental health of others; however, you must make sure to report any and all doubts of the sanctity of others wellbeing.
If you believe the person's parents will be involved negatively after reporting make sure to ask for a wellness check if you feel its neccessary, to whomever you report this too. You need to make you you talk to someone who is an adult, preferably a school staff member, or a parent whose willing to take action. If you believe it could be an emergency situation, you can always report it to the police or CPS and they can do a wellness check as well. *
Is the person you are concerned about 18 years or older?
Younger than 18
If the person you are worried about is a minor or younger than 18, you need to think about what the best course of intervention you can provide. If you are a friend or peer you may only have the choice of reporting it to the school staff members or your own parents. We know that everyone's homelife is different and you may feel the need to contact an adult and also pressure a CPS wellness check at home. If you are an adult and you know a minor may be severely depressed or suicidial you are required to contact someone or do something in order to get that minor the mental health care they need. You can always urge this person to contact the National Crisis Helpline (988). It's important to step in as urgently as you believe the situation may be; time is everything. If you believe the adults you got involved are not doing the best to keep this individual safe, you can look up Mental health Centers or Emergency Centers with Mental Health Centers in the Hospital. Many will allow children to be admitted and spoken to by mental health professionals before determining a treatment plan or parental interferance. Some of these Emergency Psychiatric Centers can be cost free, and you can do some research to find the closest one to you.
18 years or older
If the person you are worried about is older than 18 years of age than the rules of intervention can be slightly different. You can always urge this person to contact the National Crisis Helpline (988). When a person is over 18 years of age, they get to make their own medical conditions. If you are in an emergency situation you can always call 911 and ask for a wellness check by EMS & police officers or Mental Health Responders if they exist in your area. If you believe you have time to consider ways/types of treatment and any other treatment preferences of the individual, you can begin trying to look at immediate care plans for your areas resources. We know that obtaining a mental health care plan agreement, from someone you know who is struggling can be tough. If you are able, you can take them to an Emergency Mental Health Care Facility, there are many out there that are at no cost. Look up the state run facilities near you, and talk to the person you are worried about, reassure them that obtaining this help will not hinder the life they currently have. It can be very hard for any of us to accept help from others, but approaching mental health with an open mind and heart is very important. None of us can choose the days that are hard and the days that are easy, but we can choose to be there for others when we have the ability.
Identifying The Level of Immediate Action Needed:
Immediate Emergency
1: Call 911!!!
Try to calm and reduce the stress of the situation if you are able.
If you are with this person see if you are able to safely transport them to the nearest emergency medical facility than can help provide professional mental health care to the person in need.
If you are not present, try to remind yourself of the ways in which you are doing to best things you can (calling 911) and someone else's mental health care can be tough. Calming yourself for the phone call with police officers, and deciding how to proceed may be tough.
If you are with this person and they are endangering you, please do not continue involvement if possible and contact Emergency Serivces 911.
We need a Plan for Mental Health Care
If you are a friend or a peer of someone whose confided in you what they need to keep stable mental health. You can choose to help them put together a plan based on their needs and the severity of the situation. If you are planning for timeliness than you may spend the limited time with research on where you are going, what you are bringing, and how much it could cost. Sometimes we have pets or other things that must be planned for ahead of time and you as a friend can help with that. It's important that you don't take more than 24-48 hours to choose and show up to a treatment source. Of course many have less time than this in order to trust themselves to go to the Mental Health Care Center.
If you are worried this person won't be interested you can do a lot of the planning yourself, and drive them there.
Addressing Suicidal Behavior
If you notice that a friend or someone you are regularly around is showing signs of severe depression or suicide, you can bring up these things with them respectfully and privately.
This is a number one reason why any version of reference of suicide for jokes, is simply never appropriate.
You want to make sure that you express concern and willingness to step in to help, but that you want to allow them to explain or talk about the issue and the risks they face. If it's not a suicidal risk you can encourage them to seek professional mental health advice, and remind them you are always there if things get worse.
Also, seeking a Mental Health Facility never has to be just for those in deep crisis, they serve a purpose of preventing crisis and early detection is always appreciated.
Mental Health America (Where to search for Emergency and Long-Term Mental Health Care for Free or Low Cost)
Did this person come to you?
There are many reasons why this distinction can be important, but first trust is understood. Once someone is vunerable in that way to you, you are a person that they trust. You aren't responsible to be involved in any way, but if you are able, support in a friendly way until help has been reached is crucial. Knowing that there are places to go, people to contact, and ways to gain professional help, is important. If you are in this situation, make sure that you contact those whom you need to, and decide how much you can support this person. Make sure that you communicate reasonable support boundaries once professional help has been acquired.
(Please never continue involvement in a dangerous situation where your life or health may be at risk.)
Did you notice this on your own?
If you have noticed this on your own, you can always contact the proper professionals if available. However, you should never expect someone to be willing to talk to just anyone about their mental health. Even if you are right, without building or having trust, you are only able to address this privately and respectfully without much pressure or over involvement. If this person is a minor, than you are required to contact someone to get involved or check on this person. Please remember that if a person does decide to trust you with their mental health information, you should never discuss it with someone else who is not a medical professional. If they do trust you to help, make a plan to get safe treatment for them and provide support you are available.
(Please never continue involvement in a dangerous situation where your life or health may be at risk.)
Mental Health Positivity:
It's important that we discuss our mental health and the ways we prevent crisis in our own lives. We can discuss therapy, mental health diagnoses, and medications, without having stigmatizations of being inable to complete our daily tasks or manage our lives. Each of us have our unique problems that we face and we should take those things into account when discussing our mental health with others. Its okay for others to set boundaries with what they can handle when it comes to mental health conversations.
LGBTQIA+:
The Queer Community as a whole has a lot more dangers when it comes to mental health. Largely caused by the environment in which they have been raised and the people in which they have to support themselves with. Gender and Sexual identity can be complicated subjects for some families, so its our job to be supportive to those in the community. When you think about supporting your queer friends make sure that you are intentional and respectful of your
Veterans:
Veterans are overwhelmingly affected by PTSD and Suicidal Ideations. It's important that we stand up for the support and health care that is needed for our Veterans. We have our resources like the National Crisis Line: 988 with the (press 1) option for Veterans to connect with more experienced professionals. There are a lot of promises the government makes to our Veterans that are often overlooked and undermanaged. Mental Health Care is very crucial for the positive experiences of veterans and maintaining a healthy way of life.
Addressing Self-Harm in a Friend or Peer:
Its important that we also notice when others are showng signs of self-harm. This subject can be difficult for many, but it is important for us to be open and honest about the ways mental health effects us. Self-harm can range from cutting of the skin, physical harm by acts of punching walls or other activities. Self-harm can also be represented in the ways of anorexia, bulimia, and other ways of manipulating bodily functions. If you notice life-threatening self harm tendencies please contact someone who can provide the correct amount of professional support. In many cases that is getting a trusted adult involved, but sometimes it may include going to the police and asking for a wellness check on a person if they are over 18 years of age and won't seek help. It's important that you both support and maintain awareness of what you believe the situation may be. It's important to hear people out about how we express pain and manage our own symptoms; of course, this doesn't mean being a bystander and witholding possible care. Anything we can do to provide professional care for the people around us, is a top priority in a time where all of us have stress at new high levels.
Manipulation, Abuse, and Violence
When it comes to suicide its important that we also discuss the way that talks of suicide can be manipulative. Of course we take mental health very seriously, but it's also important to consider your and other's mental health when discussing the subject of suicide. If a person is saying you are a reason they would or would not commit suicide, please report it to the police as soon as possible and seperate yourself from this person. It's not anyone's place to manipulate a mental health event to be focused on another person.
Manipulation can seem heartfelt and vunerable at first, but over time you have to make sure that the conversation does not turn toxic or dangerous. You should make sure that the conversations lead toward treatment of sometime and not based on the actions of a person to fulfill someone elses mental health sanctity.
If you are facing abuse or violent behavior when it comes to the communication of mental health concerns please contact authorities and get yourself out of harms way, while also reinforcing the need for this person to seek professional help. There should never be abuse associated with the professional help that others need, of which you are not a professional care giver.
Parent & Older people in your life
When people who are older than us face life experiences that lead them to think about suicide, it can often be out of no where. But if a parent or older person confides in you about suicidal thoughts its important to contact those who will be best at interevening. This will be different for every situation, but contacting the police or crisis line is always an option. Please make sure that you always take people seriously when they discuss their mental health. When adults confide in their children or relatives they may be asking for help inadvertently.
Medical Assisted Suicide:
If a person who has a life threatening illness or cancer chooses to end their own life on their terms as a medically assisted suicide than that is a completely different conversation. These decisions may be completely opposite to your preference for that person, but its important that we have compassion and support them in that decision. When you know you are going to be leaving this life soon, it should be okay to have some control over how that works. Please make sure that you discuss the topic in a way that allows for the opinion of the person of which this procedure is focused to proceed all other opinions.
We know that not all people who seek Medically Assisted Suicide are older individuals, and this burden can occur to anyone at any point.
Knowing what kinds of relationships we have with the people around us can be very important. Our page on Relationships explains some of the ways that we can identify or relationships with others, but also how these relationships may effect us and the people around us. Avoiding Predators can also be something to look into that we prefer that all individuals prepare for.