Suicidal thoughts and self-harm

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Do you have a safety plan?

replies: 97

Safety planning involves creating a structured plan – ideally with support from your health professional or someone you trust – that you work through when you’re experiencing suicidal thoughts, feelings, distress or crisis. Your safety plan starts with things you can do by yourself, such as thinking about your reasons to live and distracting yourself with enjoyable activities. It then moves on to coping strategies and people you can contact for support – your friends, family and health professionals. The safety planning model was developed in the US by suicide prevention experts Barbara Stanley and Gregory Brown. It has been used extensively by US veterans’ health organisations, hospital emergency departments and high schools, and there is strong evidence that it works. Many health professionals in Australia also use some form of safety planning to support clients experiencing suicidal thoughts or feelings, or after a suicide attempt. beyondblue has an app you can use to create a safety plan, called BeyondNow. The BeyondNow app takes the principles of safety planning and makes it even easier to use – so rather than carrying around a piece of paper, you’ve got it on your phone at all times. It’s free to download from the Apple Store or Google Play. If you don’t have a smartphone or would prefer to use your desktop or laptop, BeyondNow is also available to use on our website. Do you have a safety plan? Do you have questions around how you might create one, or fill out some of the sections? This thread is for discussing ideas around creating a safety plan, and sharing tips about what has been most useful about this process for you. Below are two videos featuring Peter and Nic, who have both used safety plans successfully. Peter Nic

PLEASE READ THIS FIRST: posting in this section

replies: 0

Life gets pretty hard sometimes and many people in this online community have had times where they have thought about hurting themselves or ending their life. This can be a stressful and at times overwhelming experience, and this section is here to help members who have had these experiences. This is a place to share where you are at, seek ideas for help and know that you are not alone. We are here to create a safe environment for everyone. Please do not provide any details about any plans/ideas that you may have had to hurt yourself, and importantly, help us to understand if you are safe by letting us know in the post. Making comments that let us know that you are having thoughts, but are safe, helps us to know that your conversation can continue without interruption, and that we do not need to put any further follow up for you in place. This section will not be for everyone.It shows posts from people who are distressed, offers public replies to these posts, and encourages people to come back and share how they got past that difficult point in time - what worked, what didn’t and how they now approach these difficult thoughts. It is important to think about what you want from the forums, what information you need and what threads will be helpful to your situation, rather than reading everything that is posted. For some people this section might be difficult to read – if it is not helping how you feel, then please consider moving to another section. This section, like the rest of our forums, is closely monitored and all posts are reviewed by moderators before publication. Moderators will also ensure that anyone needing follow up will be provided with information about how to access further support. This section remains a discussion forum focused on helping each other through the dark times, it is not a crisis support service. Any posts that do not abide by the community rules will not be published. Unlike other areas of the forum, threads in this section will be closed after a period of one month of inactivity. If you are in crisis or need immediate help, assistance is not available via these forums. Please call Suicide Call Back 1300 659 467, Lifeline 13 11 14 or contact emergency services on 000.

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When Life Seems Too Hard

replies: 4

HelloWow, I can't believe I'm here. I'm not sure where to start but enough to say I need help. I've been having thoughts of just "going away" from my life, my responsibilities and my everything. I have a loving husband, and two grown children but I just don't think I'm enough. In the last 18 months, I've lost my 24-year-old niece, my father, my dog and my business. My mother has disowned me after I called her out on her narcissistic behaviour after the loss of my niece. I have worked so hard over the last 30+ years and all I have to show is loss. I don't want to leave my family but wouldn't it be easier to just go?I trust you all and your advice. Angie.

I am Major Depressive Disorder with Psychosis features mixed with Borderline Personality Disorder

replies: 5

Hello All, I am new to the Beyond Blue forum , I wanted to introduce myself .I have been struggling with my mind for a very long time , but only recently was l diagnosed as Borderline Personality Disorder and now Major Depressive Disorder with Psychosis features. It makes me wonder why l am complicated , l mean who wouldnt be right ??So l have been on and off meds over the years , antidepressants dont seem to agree with me so l have opted to stop them for good . I dont know if its a good idea , but for now l need to ride this out . I have and do SH , l find it a was of destressing , or at times punishing myself for bad thoughts or feelings. I've been hospitalised twice so far , other than being traumatized by the experience , didnt really help me other than keep me away from the public . I am not in a good place , in my mind . Its filled with nightmares and horrible visions and at times , the crazy in my head talks to me to do harm .I have seen things , l cannot explain and l am very paranoid everytime l leave the house . I've had Police involved many times and l hate it when l hear sirens or see them patrolling the area.I fear they are watching me or keeping an eye on my movements .I am having trouble sleeping also which is adding to my anxieties and unstable moods. Its been over 6 months of lacking sleep and l am running of fumes most days .There at days its all too hard for me to be here , but l am afraid to end it all.So l exist as an empty shell of a person , with lacking emotions , feelings and hope.Anyway for now l stay put , but who knows what tomorrow brings ...

Failed by the system

replies: 1

Tonight my sibling opened up to their psychologist about not feel like they can keep themself safe. So for obvious reasons my parents didn't ignore that and decided with my sibling that they would go to the royal children's Hospital to try and get some help. Guess what? The hospital just handed them back to us and said that they couldn't do anything because it wasn't an attempt. I'm REALLY frustrated because the one time they were able to ask for help, the system failed them. No, it wasn't an attempt, but it could turn into one. We get all these ads saying that there's help for anyone that needs it but there's not. And on top of that, one of my friends is MIA. She stopped coming to acting classes, stopped answering messages and I was told by her parents to stop contacting her. The scariest part is that she's told me before that she doesn't feel safe at home and that her parents are both physically and emotionally abusive. I also found out today that she's been unenrolled from school. I'm scared. I'm really scared. I don't want to lose my sibling or my friends but I don't know what else to do.

I have posted and just an update

replies: 1

I talked to a person on the hotline but I feel like I got reassured but no help at the same time I don’t feel like anything I do helps what should and what can I do?

What to do?

replies: 2

I’m sure this is a common theme on here and I am sorry for adding to the repetitiveness. But what am I supposed to do? As in with life? I feel no one wants to me around me, have no friends and no sense of life - I feel I have never fit in anywhere and just don’t know what I’m supposed to do? I work, but don’t really enjoy it. Have pets, but feel that they would be better off without me/feel like it’s too much to care for them. I have a partner, but I seem to just make his life harder and bring him down. I really don’t have much to look forward to and what I do have it seems like then what? So I get X - then what? The world is still a difficult place to live and everything is so uncertain - nothing seems to work out for me in the end - so why bother? I stick around for my kids and partner - but they don’t want anything to do with me. I just feel like I am a burden to everyone. Others who have found themselves in similar situations - what can I do? I have no idea what interest me, no hobbies and no drive for hobbies. I’d like to have a friendship circle, but never really make friends.

Fighting for me v. so very tired of everything

replies: 111

I’m so very conflicted. I’ve been fighting with myself for some time now. I get so very torn between fighting for myself, my wellness mentally and physically and being so very tired of myself I wish I wasn’t here. I know I don’t want to die but I’m sick of feeling like this and sometimes think it would be better if I wasn’t here. Does that make sense? I feel like such a burden. Like resources would be spent elsewhere. I feel like I’m trying so hard to get better but I’m failing. I’ve had 13 surgeries in the last two years. I’m battling my past which has come back to haunt me when I have the least resources I’ve ever had in my life. I have so many hopes, wishes, desires... but I can’t pull myself out of this deep deep heaviness. I am so confused, just under a year ago I was more unwell than I ever have been... I never acknowledged how unwell at the time, I was told I had about 12 weeks to live if I didn’t take certain action. Through it all I prioritized work and hardly missed a beat there but ever other element of my life suffered greatly. It’s only just hitting me now how bad things were... and how I chose to face it. How naive and ignorant I was.

I don’t know what to do

replies: 3

So I think I might have depression I stay in bed all day but I go to work I put a fake smile and I used to skate but I lost interest for no reason as well my family ask me how I’m doing I say I’m fine and I do want to tell them but I just feel scared I also have had thoughts of suicide but I know I will ever act on them because I don’t ever want my family to feel sad about it so what do I do? I’m sorry about my grammar but I’m in a rush to work I just wanted to post this and hopefully come home to something that might help me

Mood switching up

replies: 2

My life has been great recently, but I feel numb to it all. I'm struggling with difficult thoughts at the moment, and don't know how to cope. I feel like I'm faking all of my feelings but at the same time they're so so real. My thoughts change hour by hour, I can appear fine and just being kinda disconnected and then it'll switch into suicide mode really fast. I hate that this happens, and when I'm feeling up I can't explain how I feel when I'm down. I've tried writing my feelings out when I feel bad but then when I'm up it just washes me away. If i try to give them to someone to explain it i just break down and nothing makes sense. I have no idea how to ask for help and how to stay consistent with management strategies. No one in my close circle can give me advice, my parents don't believe anything I say and I find it too hard to talk to the school counsellor. Does anyone have any clue how to help?

How to address self harm

replies: 1

Hi Everyone, I’ve had issues in the past and more recently with self harm. I want to talk to someone about it but I don’t know who to address it with. I’m not really seeing my psychologist anymore and would have been reluctant to raise with her anyway. My GP is the obvious choice but I don’t want to lose his confidence and trust, especially given he’s the one whose been prescribing the medication. I’m not one for group therapy but wondering if there are any support groups or obvious people I could raise this with for some support. Thanks a lot.

Recurrent thoughts

replies: 12

Hi all, I have generally been managing ok, keeping negative thoughts at bay and maintaining a reasonably positive outlook. I see my psychologist monthly at the moment. I know suicide is a permanent solution to a temporary problem, that people would miss me, that my pets need me etc. Generally all of that plus various activities in my life have helped keep me positive. Lately though that little voice in my head has been getting more demanding and I have been finding myself having thoughts again that I shouldn’t be here. I work to ignore these thoughts but it is really hard. Will this ever end?

Do you have a safety plan? replies: 97

PLEASE READ THIS FIRST: posting in this section replies: 0

When Life Seems Too Hard replies: 4

I am Major Depressive Disorder with Psychosis features mixed with Borderline Personality Disorder replies: 5

Failed by the system replies: 1

I have posted and just an update replies: 1

What to do? replies: 2

Fighting for me v. so very tired of everything replies: 111

I don’t know what to do replies: 3

Mood switching up replies: 2

How to address self harm replies: 1

Recurrent thoughts replies: 12