Suicide Prevention Quick Guide

General points to remember is to be mindful of your own triggers and your own state of mind. You won’t be able to help if you can’t absorb this emotion safely. 

• First, take all suicide threats seriously, keep calm, listen actively (without judgment), express that you care and offer your help. Don’t defend the ‘value of life’ or induce guilt, this doesn’t help the student. 

• Make them aware of the availability of professional help. You could offer to find telephone helpline numbers, or websites, or help in seeking a doctor or mental health professional.

• Make sure the person keeps safe (until he or she gets help). Ask who they can call or rely on. If the situation is too critical, call for help (e.g. by calling a national helpline or emergency service).

• Don’t promise to keep the conversation confidential. When a person is at high risk, you must get help immediately. If the crisis is acute, treat it as an emergency and call an emergency service, a suicide prevention helpline, or take the person to hospital. 

• Think of it as three areas of need.

Stage 1: Universal Protections - this should be everyday practice. 

1) Show you care: Talk to the student in a private and confidential manner. Express that you’re concerned and specify why you are concerned, by mentioning what you’ve noticed.

2) Find the words and ask about suicidal thoughts: It is a myth that asking about suicide puts the idea into people’s head. Ask what is on the student’s mind, what are his/her feelings. 

Stage 2: General Concerns - something doesn’t feel right but you’re not sure what. 

If the student acknowledges he/she struggles with a (mental health) problem, ask, beginning with general questions and moving on to specific questions, explicitly about suicide: 

GENERAL QUESTIONS on mental state, hope, future, (meaning of) life. Some examples: 

• “How are you doing at the moment?” 

• “How do you perceive the future?” 

•  “Which plans do you have for the future?” 

• “Do you have the idea that life is too much for you?” 

•  “Do you have the idea that life isn’t worth living?” 

•  “Do you have hope that it gets better?” 

Stage 3: Specific concerns if you think someone is suicidal, or, if they have expressed suicidal thoughts. You need to ask SPECIFIC QUESTIONS on suicidal thoughts and plans. Some examples: 

• “Do you ever think about death, about wanting to end your own life?” 

• “Have you had thoughts of harming or killing yourself?” 

• “Are you thinking of ending your life right now?” 

• “Are you considering suicide?” 

• “What specific thoughts do you have?” 

• “Since when do you have these thoughts?” 

• “Did you have many thoughts in the last weeks?”

• “How often did you have these thoughts?”

• “How often do you think about it during the day?” 

• “What makes you think about suicide?” 

• “Do you have a specific plan in mind?” 

• “What is your plan?” 

• “Which methods did you think about?” 

• “Which preparations you made?” 

• “Have you ever had these feelings and thoughts before in your life? 

• “What caused it?” 

• “How did you deal with it?” 

• “Have you ever try to end your life?” 

Next Steps

The next step once this conversation has taken place is to create a safety plan.

There are many different models and ways to do this but basically it need to contain information about how that person will keep themselves safe, what their triggers are, what helps keep them safe, and what they will do if they feel the need to act on their thoughts.

The model used at Running Deer is taken from the Samaritans. 

CLICK HERE FOR THE RUNNING DEER SAFETY PLAN