Wendy Robinson
Wendy is Head of Services at the UK charity Campaign Against Living Miserably (CALM). She has worked within therapeutic and support services for vulnerable people, becoming a well-...
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What is suicide?
Suicide is when someone intentionally takes their own life. Now, quite often it's not necessarily that somebody wants to die, but they really feel that they have no other option, but there's always another option. There's always hope there.
Why would someone consider suicide?
There are lots of reasons that bring somebody to the point of feeling that life's not worth living. It can be actually being triggered by some severe life event. It can be a buildup of many things. It can be where somebody feels really ashamed of something that's happened, but certainly it brings people to the point of feeling that they can't go on, they can't see another way out, and suicide feels like the only way forward. But there's always a way forward. It might not feel like it at the time. Something we say is that suicide is a permanent solution to what is often a temporary problem. So really we want to be there to help people to see that there is a way forward.
How can I stop someone killing themselves?
If there's someone that you feel is at danger of taking their own life, it can be an incredible pressure that you feel that you've got to do something. The important thing to remember is that actually there's a lot that we can all do. If it's somebody close to you, it's really important that you let them know that you're concerned about them. Let them know that you're there to help. It's really important not to put pressure on somebody, but to be able to show them that you're listening to them, that you've got compassion, that you want to understand what it is that's brought them to that place, and that you really give them the idea that you can help them, that there's help out there and that there is another way forward.