{"id":77490,"date":"2017-02-04T14:07:21","date_gmt":"2017-02-04T19:07:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/?p=77490"},"modified":"2017-02-02T20:11:45","modified_gmt":"2017-02-03T01:11:45","slug":"column-call-me-if-you-need-anything","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/?p=77490","title":{"rendered":"COLUMN: Call me if you need anything"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"suicide<\/a>By Susan Jenkins<\/em><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
We hear this phrase from friends or neighbors when there has been a loss or some other crisis. It is certainly well meaning and a genuine offer of help. Unfortunately, when someone is grieving or depressed, it may be very difficult for that person to identify what they need and even more difficult to reach out to ask for assistance. A person with depression may have isolated themselves physically and\/or emotionally and they are using all their energy just to get through the tasks of the day.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Because many people have been raised not to be nosey, they are reluctant to reach out or reach in to the person who is isolated or depressed. They want to respect that person’s privacy. However, staying connected is very important to the person who is depressed or potentially suicidal. We need to reach in and connect. According to the National Institute of Mental Health:<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n
5 Action Steps for Helping Someone in Emotional Pain<\/b><\/div>\n

1. Ask:<\/strong>\u00a0“Are you thinking about killing yourself?” It’s not an easy question but studies show that\u00a0asking at-risk individuals\u00a0<\/a>\u00a0if they are suicidal does not increase suicides or suicidal thoughts.<\/p>\n

2. Keep them safe:<\/strong>\u00a0Reducing a suicidal person’s access to highly lethal items or places is an important part of suicide prevention.\u00a0While this is not always easy, asking if the at-risk person has a plan and\u00a0removing or disabling the lethal means\u00a0<\/a>\u00a0(guns, pills, etc.) can make a difference.<\/p>\n

3. Be there:<\/b>\u00a0Listen carefully and learn what the individual is thinking and feeling. Findings suggest\u00a0acknowledging and talking about suicide\u00a0<\/a>may in fact\u00a0reduce rather than increase\u00a0<\/a>\u00a0suicidal thoughts.<\/p>\n

\n
4. Help them connect<\/strong>:<\/b>\u00a0Save the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline’s number in\u00a0your <\/b>phone so it’s there when you need it: 1-800-8255 (TALK). You can also help make a connection with a trusted individual like a family member, friend, spiritual advisor, or mental health professional.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

5. Stay connected:\u00a0<\/strong>Staying in touch after a crisis or after being discharged from care can make a difference.\u00a0Studies have shown\u00a0<\/a>\u00a0the number of suicide deaths goes down when someone follows up with the at-risk person. One more thing:<\/p>\n

It may be helpful to save several emergency numbers to your cell phone. The ability to get immediate help for yourself or for a friend can make a difference.<\/div>\n
    \n
  • The phone number for a trusted friend or relative<\/li>\n
  • The non-emergency number for the local police department<\/li>\n
  • The Crisis Text Line: 741741<\/li>\n
  • The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 1-800-273-TALK (8255).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    By Susan Jenkins We hear this phrase from friends or neighbors when there has been a loss or some other crisis. It is certainly well meaning and a genuine offer of help. Unfortunately, when someone is grieving or depressed, it may be very difficult for that person to identify what they need and even more […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":74809,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_hide_featured_image":false,"_jetpack_featured_image_duplicate_dismissed":0,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[23810,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-77490","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-wellbeing","category-top-story"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p43meu-k9Q","jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/madisoncountycourier.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/unnamed-5.jpg?fit=800%2C276&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77490","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=77490"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77490\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/74809"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=77490"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=77490"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=77490"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}