You have too much to live for

Okay, so maybe you don’t right this second. You lost your job. Your wife left you. You can’t stop cutting. You can’t stop starving. The world is a horrible place. But it doesn’t always have to be. Any second now, someone could knock on your door right…now. Give you $1,000,000,000/sweep you off your feet/ give you a big hug. Somewhere out there cares, even if it doesn’t seem like, and if all else fails I do, drop me a line in our email and I’ll get back to you from my own email/skype/phone/tumblr/homing pigeon.

Suicide prevention makes me sad, sad that we need this week and sad that so often it fails. The easiest thing to do is confront someone your concerned about if you think they may be suicidal. By confront I do not mean “get better, I am unwilling to help someone with a mental illness who doesn’t try and get better”, I mean make them tea and cookies. Tell them you love them. Let them know you’re there for them. If they don’t want to speak about it, let them know that’s okay too, but you’ll be there for them when they do. Give them constructive things to do and spend time doing useless things like painting with your hands. Do your research, is this person going through personal issues you could help with (don’t but your nose in where it isn’t wanted though!). Or maybe you feel they fit a profile for a mental illness, encourage them to take the first steps in seeking help. There’s no formula for making someone feel better, but trying, even if you fail, is worth the effort.

If you didn’t notice the signs, don’t blame yourself, it’s human nature to be self-centred, just try harder to care about others from now on.

Some tips for emergencies:

·         If you find someone bleeding too much

o   Apply immediate pressure to the wound, don’t be afraid to press hard and hurt you want to stop blood flow to the area

o   Elevate the site of wound, for example, hold an arm above their head

o   Keep them from going into shock, speak to them and try and keep them awake, offer a sugary drink

o   I don’t recommend trying this but coconut milk is isotonic with blood so it can be used as an emergency transfusion

o   To further stop blood flow you can tie a tight bandage (a shoe lace will do) at the base of the limb, but be careful, if blood flow is cut off too long their cells can begin to die.

o   Keep them warm, use blankets and anything available

o   Obviously first you should call 911/999 whatever your emergency number is.

·         If you think someone has overdosed and they are conscious

o   Make them stay awake and walk around

o   Feed them water saturated with salt and hopefully they’ll throw up, make sure they don’t choke though, learn the Heimlich or if all else fails clear their airways manually (it’s not recommended to do this because of the risk of lodging the blockage further down their throat but in dire circumstances you may need to)

o   Again call for medical aid

·         If they’re not

o   Call for medical aid, there’s not much you can do here, try and identify what it is they took and how much, this may make professional treatment easier

o   Put them in the recovery position, if you don’t know it roll them gently onto their side and keep a close eye on them

·         Drowning

o   This is one I don’t know much about I’m afraid, but if there are strong currents do not dive in after them, especially if the water is cold, the danger is too great to yourself

o   Learn mouth to mouth resuscitation, use this

o   Keep them warm, the water will make them lose heat extremely fast

There’s a million different methods of suicide, I’ve covered some common ones, but my advice is no substitute for medical training, lots of schools and universities offer short and often free courses in basic first aid if this is something that keeps you awake at night I recommend taking one, you never know when it might come in handy.

As I’m signing off, if a loved one or someone close to you is suicidal don’t take it to heart if you hear something along the lines of “if you do this, I’ll kill myself” (I actually got this from an ex boyfriend), and yes it is rather hurtful of them to say something of the sort, remember what a hard time they are going through at the moment, it’s not your fault (unless you’re a bully or something in which case stop being a dick) it’s mental illness speaking, they need help, not anger.

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