While I understand the unease and felt the responsibility that comes when someone says they are experiencing urges to suicide, everything I have read suggests the best approach revolves around connecting with and listening to the person non-judgmentally. Ultimately, we want our loved ones alive and safe. Sometimes someone sitting in pain with us, listening, is enough to create a space between the urge and the desire to act on the urge. That space, that time, can change so much. It can remind us that we matter, that people care. Sometimes, in that space, we will remember the things we want to accomplish in our life.t how "symptoms that need to be eradicated" feels more like someone working on us rather than someone working with us.
While I understand the unease and felt the responsibility that comes when someone says they are experiencing urges to suicide, everything I have read suggests the best approach revolves around connecting with and listening to the person non-judgmentally. Ultimately, we want our loved ones alive and safe. Sometimes someone sitting in pain with us, listening, is enough to create a space between the urge and the desire to act on the urge. That space, that time, can change so much. It can remind us that we matter, that people care. Sometimes, in that space, we will remember the things we want to accomplish in our live.
There does come a time when it is appropriate to talk about hospitalization. There is a time when hospitalization is the next best step. However, if we don't start at "I'm going to hospitalize you" we might find that we help with our loved one's recovery process in more ways that we can imagine.
If you are the trusted person someone has come to with their urges to suicide and you feel like you don't know what to do or are uncomfortable with making decisions in this matter, ask your loved one to call 988 (the new National Suicide Prevention Line) with your present. Operators at 988 (or in Connecticut there is 211 also) are trained to help in situations such as this and they will not automatically call for an ambulance.