ThinkAgain-FaithAgain-logo-lft
  • Home
  • Conversations
    • All Conversations
    • Think Again
    • Pre 2018 Think Again
    • Faith Again
    • Pre 2018 Faith Again Gatherings
    • Community
  • Intentions
  • Consider
  • Backstory
  • Contact
CONTACT INFORMATION
Thinkagain.Faithagain@gmail.com
Instagram connection not available.
ThinkAgain-FaithAgain-logo-lft
ThinkAgain-FaithAgain-logo-lft
  • Home
  • Conversations
    • Think Again
      • Pre 2018 Think Again
    • Faith Again
      • Pre 2018 Faith Again Gatherings
    • Community
  • Intentions
  • Consider
  • Backstory
  • Contact

I recently had a friend try to commit suicide

Consider
-
No comments

Did you really want to die? No one commits suicide because they want to die. Then why do they do it? Because they want to stop the pain.

-Tiffanie DeBartolo

 

It is a dark place when people see no escape except to permanently turn out the lights. This is where my 51 year old friend has been for the past few days. For weeks the light in his life has been gradually shut out. By the end of one our talks he said he felt better. But he woke up in the middle of the night and in a fit of fear, paranoia, shame, and despair he attempted to take his life. He has refused to avail himself of the National Suicide hotline and the local suicide chat line I gave him information for. I’ve been working with his mother and together we are consulting and strategizing. He has been in the midst of a divorce and it is breaking his heart. My friend is several states away, making this even more challenging. He will hopefully be getting some mental health care soon. It may require his mom having him committed for evaluation.

I share this because at any moment anyone can be called upon to help in such dire circumstances. They are heart-wrenching conversations. To speak to someone who has lost all hope and who cannot be reasoned out of it is worrisome to say the least. And where expressions of love, positive affirmation, walking with them right where are, or listening and empathizing brings barely a ray of light into their lives. All is dark and the most we can sometimes do is gently, and sometimes firmly, keep trying to let just enough light in that they don’t succeed in turning off the power permanently.

It’s not the first time I’ve been in such a situation and I’m feeling the need to become better educated. Better prepared. I want to make sure what I do and say is helping and not hurting. So this is an invitation to me and to you for us to be prepared when darkness descends and threatens death.

National Suicide Prevention Month – September 2020
World Suicide Prevention Day – September 10, 2020
TED Talks On Suicide That Are Worth Watching
BE THE ONE TO HELP SAVE A LIFE

 

← PREVIOUS POST
Navigating political differences with family and friends
NEXT POST →
Listening to Utah’s First Female Sheriff About Policing

Leave a Comment

Your feedback is valuable for us. Your email will not be published.
Cancel Reply

Please wait...
Submit Comment

Related News

Other posts that you should not miss.

Three Interrelated Themes of Important Reading

Consider
“Books give a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination, and life to everything.” – Plato   These three themes below, I have…
Read More →
3 MIN READ

Opportunities to listen and talk about what matters

Consider
"We need more than civility, empathy, and good will. We need courage." -Braver Angels We need the courage, curiosity, and humility to talk to those different than us.…
Read More →
1 MIN READ

Enemies at our door

Consider
"If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father who is in heaven give good things to…
Read More →
2 MIN READ
Slider photos and all illustrations on this site: ©2018 Jay Griffith. No use permitted without express permission from creator.  Think Again Faith Again name and logo: ©2018 Jay Griffith.
I recently had a friend try to commit suicide | ThinkAgain | FaithAgain