You may know someone in your life that has thought about suicide. They may have given you some warning signs, but you didn’t really know if they were at imminent risk of it. For those that are unaware of what imminent risk of suicide means, let me clarify. Imminent risk of suicide means that the person is in serious danger and is planning to kill themselves very soon.
This is scary to see and to deal with because you don’t necessarily know what to do in this kind of situation. You may be caring and give nice words, but that will not go that far. You can’t be with them forever, so you have to make sure they are in good hands.
The first thing for you to do is to understand all of the warning signs that come with suicide. Without knowing the warning signs, you will not know what course of action you need to take.
Warning Signs of Suicide
For someone that has feelings of hopelessness, suicide can have a wide variety of warning signs. You also have to take into account the reason why someone is thinking about ending their life. Here are some reasons someone may think of suicide:
- Bullying
- Feeling Hopeless
- Abuse (Sexual, Physical, or Emotional)
- Self-Defeating Thoughts
- Lack of Support
- Alcohol & Drug Use
- Family History of Suicide
The list goes on and on, but here are some risk factors to name a few. If you’d like to learn more about risk factors, check out this article! Once you’ve figured out the risk factors involved with suicide, you can take a look at the warning signs. Here are some of the warning signs associated with suicide.
- Talking About Ending Their Life
- Plan on Hurting Others That Bullied Them
- Plan on Harming Themselves
- Talk About Having No Way Out Of The Situation
- Giving Belongings Away
- Lack of Sleep & Focus
- Withdrawing From Activities They Usually Participate In
- Constantly Apologizes For Something Minor
It’s important to know about these warning signs, so you can be ready to help them get out of this situation. The best and only way to help someone that may be suicidal is through risk assessment.
Risk Assessment To Determine Imminent Risk
Risk assessments are the best way to determine if someone is in imminent risk of suicide. This is what you need because you will know exactly what it is that the person is going through.
Risk assessment comes in four simple, but effective steps. The first step is Ideation. This is where you learn more about them and if they are at imminent risk of suicide. The second step is the Plan. This is where you look to see if they have a plan of action to end their life. The third step is Means. This is where you look to see if they have access to anything that may harm them or become successful in suicide. The last and final step is Timeframe. You always want to know how soon and immediately the person is planning on ending their life.
After following these steps, you will have an accurate representation of how to help someone that is in imminent risk of suicide. Risk assessment is important and necessary for counseling and therapy. It’s one of the first things to do when you’re talking to someone in need of help and support.
When I’m doing crisis counseling, it is the most important thing to determine because of the severity of the issue. Without further ado, let’s get started with the first step of risk assessment.
Step 1: Ideation
Ideation is the first and one of the most important steps to go through. I want to make this clear before I get into the details of things. When you do a risk assessment for someone, it is important not to skip any steps. You want to get as much information as you can, so you can help the person as best as you can.
Without a piece of information, it is difficult to determine a plan of action for their safety. Now with that out of the way, time to focus on whether or not they want to end their life.
Sometimes people may display warning signs or risk factors of suicide, but not actually want to end their life. They may just want all of their pain and suffering to stop, but don’t really know how to get away from it. This is important to note, so you don’t get any mixed signals.
When you’re with someone that you may think is suicidal, tell them something like this:
“I’m sorry to hear you go through this difficult situation. It’s not easy being able to deal with that for such a long time. I just want to make sure you’re safe right now. Are you having any suicidal thoughts?”
That is just an example of what to say to someone that may be in imminent risk of suicide. You can change the dialogue around and say whatever you think is best. However, you must say the question in the dialogue, “Are you having any suicidal thoughts?” because that is what ideation is all about.
How To Help Someone At This Stage
Knowing if the person is thinking about suicide. If the person says no, then you don’t have to continue the risk assessment. In this case, it is important to provide support and listen to what they’re saying. Being there for someone can go a long way to help the person feel better and become happier.
Another way to provide support is by giving them resources to help them out on their journey. A good resource to offer at this stage would be 99 coping skills because these are activities that you can do with the person. It shows that you’re there for them and willing to help them come up with a solution.
If the person said yes to this question, then it is time to move on to the next step.
Step 2: Plan
The second step is the Plan where the person either has come up with a plan to end their life or they haven’t thought about it yet. It is important to continue being supportive and thoughtful if they said yes to the first step. You don’t want to ask these questions back to back without checking up on them to see if they’re okay.
In this step, you want to say something like this:
“You must be going through a lot of pain since you’re having thoughts about ending your life. I was wondering if you had a plan for this. Do you have a plan for how you would go through with this?”
Again, you can change the words around or say something that is more tailored to your style of speech. However, it is still important for you to ask the question at the end to make sure that you know the person has a plan for this.
If the person responds with a simple “yes”, then go on to ask them about their plan. Ask them, “Would you mind sharing with me what your plan is?” By doing this, you have an accurate representation of what it is that they’re thinking about doing.
How To Help Someone On This Step
If the person says “no” to this question, then do not continue any further in the risk assessment. They may still be at risk of suicide, but it isn’t an imminent risk. At this point, continue providing support to the person and talk about step 1 with them. Try to find more information as to what led them to get those strong negative thoughts about themselves.
Maybe it was an event that happened to them that led them to believe that their life is not important. If that is the case, then try to develop a plan for them to get through this event. A resource that I would recommend at this step would be the myPlan app because of what it does. It allows you to create a safety plan for the person to follow and access to three people that the person can go to for support.
If the person said “yes” to the question and told you about their plan, it’s time to move on to step 3.
Step 3: Means
The third step in risk assessment is Means which follows closely with step 2. After you know about their plan, it’s time to see if they have access to what they need in order to be successful with that plan.
It is important for you not to skip this step. If you feel like they don’t have access, it is still important for you to go through this step. You don’t know what the person has or not. They may have never told you about it or is hiding it from others.
After they’ve told you about their plan, ask them something like this:
“I see that you have thought this through since you have developed a plan for how you would end your life. Would you mind telling me if you have access to what you plan on killing yourself?”
With this statement, you validate that they have a plan and that you’re listening closely to what they’re saying. You also get an understanding if the person has access to what they plan on using to end their life.
The most common forms of means of suicide are:
- Firearm (Access to a gun)
- Poisoning (Access to pills, etc.)
- Suffocation (Access to a rope, etc.)
- Self-Harm (Access to a knife, blade, etc.)
How To Help Someone In This Stage
If the person says “no” to this question, it is important to talk about their plan and information about their ideation. You want to get as much information as possible while providing support. You also want to make sure that the person does not go out of their way to get access to what they need. Make sure they are in a safe place. The best way to do this is to spend some time with them and comfort them.
The best resource at this stage would be the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention because of the community they have around helping those that deal with suicide. I know this for a fact since I am a member of this organization for about 3 years. It’s definitely a community filled with people that support each other.
If the person said “yes” to this question, continue to the last and final step. Also, if they have access to what they plan on using, it is important for you to ask them to stay away from it while you are talking to them. This is just to ensure that they are safe and that they are listening to you.
After you’ve done this, it’s time for you to move on to the last step.
Step 4: Timeframe
The last and final step of this is timeframe which means the time at which the person plans on killing themselves. This is the most important step because this is what determines imminent risk from just moderate risk. If the person passes this step, you have to take serious measures to help the person out.
For most people, they wouldn’t even realize that someone was in imminent risk. They would see someone that felt suicidal as someone that needs help and support, which is true. However, there’s much more to that when you go through a risk assessment.
For step 4, you want to say something like this:
“Looks like you have everything figured out about this. I’m so sorry to hear that you’re going through this much pain. I would have never imagined or thought about it. Thanks for trusting me and telling me this. By any chance, do you plan on killing yourself within the next 48 hours?”
This is a question that you must ask and get an accurate response from. The person you’re talking to might be unsure if they’re going to end their life in the next 2 days. If they are unsure, it is important to continue supporting them and make sure that they are being heard.
How To Help Someone That’s At Imminent Risk
Put this question in the back of your head and ask them again later on. If they ask about it, just tell them that you want to make sure that they’re okay. If they are at imminent risk, then it is important to contact a mandated reporter or emergency services.
If you want to make sure that the person gets help, the best resource for them would be a hotline. Hotlines like Crisis Text Line and the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline are beneficial because they can give the person more resources and contact emergency services for you. The people that work there are all mandated reporters, which means that they can contact special services if they feel like you are in serious danger.
If someone said that they didn’t have that timeframe, then I believe those resources would still benefit them. While you do give them those resources, continue to help them out and listen. Maybe this whole situation could have been prevented if the person had the support or felt like they had someone to go to.
Conclusion
Most times, if someone had a successful suicide attempt, people try to think of ways they could have helped the other person. By risk assessment, you make sure that you can do the most you can. Without a risk assessment, you would be confused as to what’s going on and how to help others.
It is important that you learn more about this and to keep others informed in order to save the lives of others. I hope the people you risk assess get the help that they deserve. You can save their lives. Be a lifesaver!
