Suicide – how can we help?

There has been so many suicides on the news recently, especially the local news (Preston) and that is just the ones that make the news. Suicide is so final, there is no coming back from that. I have considered suicide a few times, but mainly by thoughts of ‘if I fell down these stairs now, or if I crashed my car into a tree would everything I’m feeling go away’. But then I realise how silly I am being. I am not calling suicide silly at all, I am calling my thoughts silly as I don’t think I am really serious.

But some people really can’t see another way out. It is these people we need to be finding and supporting. Today, tomorrow, next week, next month, next year things may still be hard but eventually something will change and things will get better. Life is so precious and we need to preserve it.

We are all so busy with our own lives and we all have opinions and views on why someone is smiling, someone is crying, someone is angry – I know I am certainly guilty of judging someone. But actually we never know what is going on in someone’s life, what is going on in their head. Even our friends, our families, our husbands/wives, those people we think we know everything about can have their own battles that they keep hidden.

So what can we do? We can smile at everyone, we can ask if they are ok, we can show that we care, we can share stories of how things get better, we can share stories of how things can be bad – so that they know they are not alone. I am talking about doing this with everyone, even if you think they are very happy as you just don’t know if that is a front they are putting on. We need to show people we have time for them and that we are there for them whenever they need. We need to drop plans sometimes to be there for  people, we need to help people out. Sometimes we need to push our help on someone even when they say they do not need it. But making sure they do have a bit of space.

Mental health services are getting better and there is more help out there now but often people will not ask for help. That is why it is down to everyone to support your friends, families and even strangers.

Let’s try and show people that things can get better and that life is worth living!