I need your advice.

[foxyfurs]

Someone very close to me -- I've known them as long as I've been alive -- made a comment-in-passing about their recent suicide attempt.

If there's anyone who's got practical experience in talking about this kind of thing, would you drop me a line? I'm ... I'm really at sea.

Comments

[arasigyrn]

Talking about suicide is one of the hardest conversations you're ever going to have.

I can't really offer specific advice since I'm outside the situation but I do encourage you to trust your instincts. You've known this person for many years and while this revelation came as a shock, you know them better than you might feel you do right now.

Be honest and be open; talking about something like a suicide attempt can be very difficult, they might downplay it to help convince themselves it wasn't a big deal. Let them bring it up and be honest - a lot of the time, the realization that people they love and care about would be genuinely devastated by their loss is enough to keep them off the precipice.

Also, in the event of a worse-case scenario (which you have all the prayers and good thoughts I can rally to help avoid), remember that this is not your doing and not your fault. By being there, with an open heart, you are doing all that you can.

::snuggles::

May it all work out.

[foxyfurs]

Yeah, he's the one brought it up. And while that tells me that he's dealing with it, it also tells me that it happened long enough ago that he can view it with some objectivity now. I think I'm just stunned that I really didn't have any idea that he was feeling all that pain and despair. I didn't know. He's my favorite brother and I didn't know.

I may have more trouble, honestly, dealing with my own guilt over this, than figuring out what to say to him. :(