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Boosted by brib@bribstodon.xyz ("brib :neofox_floof:ā :Nonbinary:"):
ravenize@donotsta.re ("./night.fox š¤š
Ø (Glass Shard Edition)") wrote:
what can you do if a friend is actively suicidal? (without calling the cops on them):
What you can do depends a lot on the specific situation.
Ideally ask them what they want you to do before they go into a crisis. If they explicitly want to be hospitalized in situations like this, it's still better to have a mutual friend take them there or if that isn't possible to make clear that cops aren't necessary before calling emergency services. Also ask again + let them know you're calling emergency services when you do so.
If they don't want to be hospitalized or you are unsure, DON'T decide for them.
Do the following instead, depending on situation.
In general 'show care', whether that is helping them with daily routines, regularly checking in, meeting up, spending the night in a phone call with them etc.
Remember that this is not an individual effort but a community effort, you don't have to 'save' them all by yourself. If you try to care for them all by yourself and need to stop doing so for your own mental health, that's often one of the worst things that can happen and can push beings over the edge. It's better to have multiple ppl help you
DON'T give them the feeling you are only friendly so they don't kill themselves. The best way to stop creatures from killing themselves is to offer them a stable social environment that actually has hope for the future.
In general beings in the friend group that have and give others hope for the future are very valuable. You don't have to be that being, but you can.In some cases it helps to talk about your own experiences with depression/suicide etc. and why you're still alive (check beforehand if that's the case though)
If they isolate themselves you're still allowed to check in, it's better to be a bit too much then just abandoning them unless they specifically ask not to do so. Don't just assume they want nothing to do with you, unless specifically told so.
Show them there are alternatives to committing immediately, remind them of things they still wanted to do for example (or suggest some). They don't have to be reasonable, at some points i considered just vanishing to another country without telling anyone for example but they're still better than them committing suicide.
What also helps for me is to schedule a lot of things over the next months that I'm looking forward to, if I notice myself go into a crisis (and to make sure I go there). This is of course something you need to do beforehand and makes sense if there's a history with suicidality. You can maybe suggest something like this to them and support them with that.
If they need to get out of a bad situation see if you or a friend can let them spend some days with you.