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September is Suicide Prevention Month
Suicide is still too often met with silence, stigma, or shame. Silence should never be the response to someone’s pain.
With one conversation, asking someone how they’re really doing — and being ready to truly listen — can save lives.
Because here’s what we know: No one has to face this alone. Help exists. Healing is possible. And all it can take is for one person to start a conversation.
A recent conversation with a friend highlighted this. They had been struggling for some time but always showed up, smiled, seemed to be doing ok. Life was throwing a few curve balls but they would shrug it off “it is what it is”. Under all that was chaos, or as they said “my mind is like a big ball of tangled wool. I just can’t get hold of a thread to sort out. I just want it all to stop”. And here is where asking how they are really doing comes in. It is often not that a person wants to die, they just want it to stop. They want the struggle to stop, the mind noise, the constant worry, the feelings of not being good enough, the sleepless nights, the lack of energy, wondering where the person they were before has gone. One conversation is not going to solve the problem like a miracle cure but each conversation can make small differences. Sitting down and listening, holding them while they cry, letting them rant or maybe just sitting with them in silence shoulder to shoulder can have an effect. They say it is good to talk but it is even better to listen!
There is a lot of help out there, but we, as friends and family are on the front line. We need to start noticing the signs, the withdrawing, the silence, the fake smiles and of course the “I’m ok’s”. Losing a loved one to suicide comes with a lot of guilt but as we all start to learn more about the signs, bring the topic out of the shadows and openly talk about suicide, only then can we look to a future where we don’t lose people we love and care about to their own demons.
https://www.nhs.uk/mental-health/feelings-symptoms-behaviours/behaviours/help-for-suicidal-thoughts/
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