Information for Youth
Suicide is never a good choice because it is a permanent solution to a temporary problem. Life hurts sometimes. We lose a boyfriend or girlfriend … we fail an important test … we make a bad decision and get into trouble … we don’t feel we can meet others’ expectations of us … we don’t have friends who care about us … we feel alienated or “out of step with the rest of the world”. When things get tough, we may think that the solution is to “check out of this life”. Remember, you can work through pain and find happiness again … but you cannot change the decision to commit suicide.
Suicide is NEVER the solution!
How to Get Your Life Back and Find Happiness Again
- Reach out to someone – a trusted friend, a parent, a teacher. Tell them what is troubling you.
- Remember, there are people in your life who love you and care about you. They would want to help you with what you are experiencing, if they knew. Share with them.
- A caring adult can help you find solutions you may not have thought of.
- Remember … there is no problem so big that you, and those who care about you, cannot solve.
Call or text the National Suicide Prevention Hotline
How to Help a Person Who is “Down” or Thinking of Suicide
Compassion and friendship can do so much … when we treat others with respect and kindness, we help them feel valued.
- Reach out to a student, who is being bullied or alienated, or to the student who appears sad and depressed.
- Ask why he/she is sad or depressed or feeling suicidal and what you can do to help.
- Let him/her know you are concerned and do not want him/her to act on his/her suicidal thoughts.
- Encourage him/her to talk with a school counselor or a mental health professional.
Never keep secret a person’s plan to hurt himself/herself or take his/her own life – tell an adult!