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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I'm so tired

replies: 8

Hey everyone, Just wanted to know if anyone has ever rung one of the help lines and felt like it has really helped? I am struggling but don't want a bad experience to make me feel worse, or to upset anyone who is just trying to help. I also don't want to be on a database, to have any follow up calls or to have authorities alerted to me, I am safe, I am not going to hurt myself ,and I am not going to hurt anyone else. thanks NM

Feeling hopeless

replies: 29

Hi everyone, I have been in a bad place for a while now . Am new to this and was hoping to chat to some people.

Suicidal thought

replies: 3

Hi, 3 weeks ago I attempted suicide, I was at the beach at night and just started walking and kept walking, the next thing I remember is being at the hospital. I'm waiting for a room to come available at a hospital for mental health and still having thoughts, 4 years ago I had a work place accident and have been in pain every day and night, I can't handle the pain any more I've been on that many medications but nothing is working all they do is make me hear voices and see things that aren't really there. Thanx for listening

I Want to Keep Fighting - Trigger Warnings

replies: 2

First of all, I'm safe and I've no plans to do anything horrible to myself, but I feel as though I can't truly confront my depression and anxiety without also acknowledging that sometimes I do not have the strength to offer self-compassion. I always feel really bad asking for help, like I'm guilty of being lazy or irresponsible, but then I remind myself that we all feel that way sometimes and I wouldn't think that of someone else who felt so sad and alone and was struggling. I don't really know what to do, but the last few days I've been waking up with no energy and staring at the ceiling. I've had suicidal thoughts before, all throughout life, and even going so far as to physically hurt myself because I thought it was the only way to "punish" myself for being so inadequate. I don't do that anymore and I'm in a much better place overall in life, yet these thoughts still intrude every once in a while and it sets me spinning. I suppose it's because a part of me wants to give up and is terrified of being hurt, or hurting someone else. I'm terrified of intimacy. I'm scared of new relationships, but I'm doing my best to fight through that assumption that everything will be terrible, and have recently been going out and meeting new people and am trying to find clubs in my area so I can branch out further. It's just... it's really scary. Some days I don't want to do anything. I'm sorry this post is so confused. I'm really confused too. I just want to keep doing my best, because I know there are lots of others out there struggling against that feeling every day. I believe we can do it, but gosh... it really is hard sometimes.

Life is hard

replies: 7

Been to docs today told him how I was feeling depressed, anxious , suicidal , don’t know which way to turn at the moment split with partner 2 years ago , I’m from uk living in oz , no friends or family to turn to but got 2 little kids here but I’m struggling to see a future for me . Everyday for the past 3/4 weeks I’ve felt like ending my life and the most painless way of doing it . I’m ok at the moment but it’s hard living in a foreign country with no one to talk to . Maybe that’s why I’m here .

Exhausted... finding strength to move forward

replies: 4

I don't expect this post to result in miracle advice that makes everything better, but I hope it finds a community of people with similar pain. I wake up every day full of anxiety/panic and I want to kill myself. A parent committed suicide when I was growing up, and at various low points in life, I've considered suicide. I'm in my 40s and a well-educated professional. But several years ago, my first wife left me. I feel into a deep depression that significantly impacted my work performance (despite therapy and meds). I also remarried into an unhealthy relationship. And I was binge drinking on weekends/holidays. A few years ago, I was fired from my job of many years and my second wife left me. I guess I hit the F-it button and survived a couple years exhausting my savings. Once I ran out of money, I thought I would just kill myself. The primary thing that's held me back is the pain it would cause the few family members I have left. In the past couple years, I've taken some positive steps and am trying to start working again. I'm also living a healthier lifestyle and drink infrequently. But I'm unemployed, in debt, alone, full of regret and my professional confidence is shot. Hence, waking up in anxiety/panic and wanting to just end my own suffering. I just don't know if I have the emotional energy to pull myself out of this hole. So if you've had similar thoughts, know you're not alone. And please let me know if you've found any helpful strategies that keep you moving forward despite all the pain and regret.

Anxiety that has affected my work performance

replies: 2

I have been suspended from work under investigation for poor performance . It has esculated my existing anxiety and feelings of self harm

Been dealing with Depression and self-harm, but am really struggling.

replies: 2

Hi my name is Juliet. I've known for a while that I've been depressed, I just always feel sad and tired and am over everything. That's why I started self-harming, luckily I got out of that phase and started to feel okay again. But since my life is messed up I'm now scared I'm going to start falling back into it. No one really knows about what's been happening, as I haven't talked to any person, my friends etc don't see the signs as I know I'm pretty good at hiding it. The thing that helped me get out of my 'slump' was my cat. He always listened and It's like he knew when I wanted to self-harm because he'd come up and nudge me and distract me. He made me so happy and even though he is was my younger sister's, he helped me so much, he was like a support cat if anything. Two weeks ago he was in an accident and went into cardiac arrest during surgery. I miss him so much and I feel like without him I'm not going to be able to distract myself. I can't pinpoint where the sadness that just hangs over me for the last few months comes from but it's just always there and my cat just helped let the sun peek through sometimes. So now I'm getting self-harm thoughts again and I'm scared because he won't be there to help. My parents don't understand shit and they just yell at me when I do bad at school, and they're relatively good parents but there are just some aspects when it comes to my mental health that they don't understand. For example, they think having a phone is going to make me end my life but It helps me distract myself and I always feel comforted knowing that if I have a breakdown or I hurt myself badly that I can get help. Now they've decided to lock my phone up at night and I'm scared I wont be able to get help. I'm sorry but I don't really know what I wanted to get out of this, I just needed somewhere to talk to people. Has anyone got any tips about any of the things mentioned???

Why it becomes a real option

replies: 3

Don't know why I'm writing this. I just wanted to say that after a suicide attempt in my 20s I am really thinking about it again now in my 50s and basically it boils down to the fact that I have tried for so many years with different therapists, medications, biofeedback, (even venting on BB) and in the end none of it has helped me. I know some people get results from therapy and meds and thats great for them but I think I am far from being alone in finding zero benefit from the thousands of dollars and draining discussions I have had over nearly 2 decades of treatment. I keep looking up local psychologists and wondering if it is worth trying again but I just do not believe there is any point because I have tried so many times before. When your life is getting up early because of chronic pain and/or worry, doing a job that has some good points but plenty of stress, then coming home to my empty flat and empty life that has never ever included love, intimacy or companionship, eat food, watch crap TV then try to go to sleep if my anxiety would just let me and then have the usual array of unpleasant and nightmarish dreams, only to do it all again next day and forever.... well, then the ugly option of suicide starts to look perfectly rational. As I said, I'm not in danger right now but I am so anxious and angry at several issues in my life right now and when I feel like I want to seek help but have nothing but resentful feelings towards the system that has failed to help me in the past I just stop trying and feel stuck again. I have spent my entire life in a miserable rut and my head is so locked up and broken that I just don't believe I can escape it. I just hate myself so much and cannot stand being in my own skin. I hope I never kill myself but I guess at least my complete inability to allow anyone close enough to love me means I won't really end up upsetting too many people. Apologies for the wallowing self pity. I can't sleep so this is what I end up doing. What a stupid pointless thing to do. So sorry for this negative crap, I don't want to drag others down.

Serious Question

replies: 5

Hello everyone. I am a first time poster. My anxiety has been building for months now and my medication does not seem to be working and the past week I have had the overwhelming urge to self harm which happened last night I have not done this for maybe 6yrs! when I did the act it wasnt the pain that eased my anxiety but the end result i.e. seeing the harm. My question is this: Is this why people harm themselves? is it the pain or the end result which eases your anxiety? I remember a Psychologist telling me that it was the pain that usually eased the anxiety. Would love to hear your thoughts. I am safe and under care at the moment but I am also in hotel quarantine which isnt helping.

Do you have a safety plan? replies: 97

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

I'm so tired replies: 8

Feeling hopeless replies: 29

Suicidal thought replies: 3

I Want to Keep Fighting - Trigger Warnings replies: 2

Life is hard replies: 7

Exhausted... finding strength to move forward replies: 4

Anxiety that has affected my work performance replies: 2

Been dealing with Depression and self-harm, but am really struggling. replies: 2

Why it becomes a real option replies: 3

Serious Question replies: 5