SAMH (Scottish Action for Mental Health) provide the following guides;
- 'After a Suicide' - What to expect and how to support others following a death by suicide.
- 'Suicide: How to Ask' - How to begin a conversation about suicide.
- 'Suicide...Living with your Thoughts' - Ways of understanding your thoughts of suicide and how to take steps to keep yourself safe.
- 'Suicide...Are you Worried about Someone?' - How to best support those you care about.
You can access all of these guides online, here.
How can I keep myself safe?
It can feel like a huge responsibility if you are trying to cope alone, however, if you have a plan to keep safe it might make it easier. Your plan might include:
- Identifying a safe place that you can go, this might be a place with people who you don’t have to interact with if you don’t want to (24-hour supermarket, library, etc)
- Identifying helplines that you can call. Some helplines such as Breathing Space and the Samaritans are anonymous. This means you can talk with someone you don’t know about how you are feeling.
- Thinking about other things that might help – this might be a physical activity or listening to music, for example, something that you find calming or engaging; something you can do which helps to delay you from acting on your thoughts.
- Having an emergency contact (family or friend) who is aware of your thoughts of suicide and is prepared to support you during a time of crisis.
Helping someone else
If there is someone in your life who you think might be suicidal, it's best to try to talk to them about it. It can be scary and you might be you’re worried about upsetting them by bringing it up.
In the below video by CALM movement you’ll find information on signs that someone could be feeling suicidal, what to say to them, how to say it and where to find help.