Suicide Prevention
 No one can predict a suicide, but if you think someone you care about is having thoughts of wanting to hurt or kill themselves there are things you can do. The first thing you can do is ask the person if they are having any thoughts of wanting to hurt or kill themselves. If they are having thoughts of suicide, the next important question to ask is if the person has a plan of how they would hurt or kill themselves. If they have a plan, ask the person if they have the means to carry out the plan.
Some questions you can ask are:
- Are you having thoughts of wanting to hurt or kill yourself?
- Have you tried to hurt yourself in the past?
- Are you thinking of hurting yourself today?
- Do you have a plan as to how you would hurt yourself?
- Do you have the means to carry out the plan?
It is important to remember that asking these questions will not increase the person’s suicidal thoughts. The answers to these questions will help you gauge how strongly the person has thought about hurting or killing themselves. Make sure to take the suicidal thoughts seriously, especially if the person has a history of hurting themselves.
There are also some red flags you can look for such as making statements about wanting to hurt themselves, an increase in substance use or abuse, not having a reason to live, not being able to sleep or feeling easily agitated, feeling hopeless, isolating from friends and family or other pleasurable activities, an increase in anger, risky behavior, and dramatic changes in mood.
If you think a person might hurt themselves don’t leave them alone. Let them know you are going to get help. The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline can be reached at 1-800-273-8255. MINES & Associates' crisis line can be reached at 1-800-873-7138.
Source
MINES & Associates' HealthPsychology Team
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For 30 years, MINES & Associates has been a nationally recognized business psychology firm that provides a variety of services to corporate employers, including: employee assistance programs (EAP), managed behavioral healthcare, organizational development and psychology services, wellness programs, behavioral risk management, disease management, PPO services, and a number of other technology based services.
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