Said With Courage

Category: Suicide Prevention

  • The CS Survival Guide: What I Wish I Knew For Suicide Prevention

    The CS Survival Guide: What I Wish I Knew For Suicide Prevention

    Introduction  When I sat down to take my first call as a Lifeline volunteer, I thought; “This must be a huge mistake.” Was I really ready? What if I said the wrong thing? My supervisor leaned over and gave me a line I still carry with me to this day: “Just trust the process, Said.”…

  • The Secret Behind My Bulletproof Resilience In Crisis Support

    The Secret Behind My Bulletproof Resilience In Crisis Support

    When I started volunteering in suicide prevention, growth hurt. So badly. Now? My work improves with ease. I used to ask: why is it so difficult to just… get better? Some calls would go super well and I’d feel like I did a great job. Only to connect the dots later and realise I’d projected…

  • How Reflective Practice Improved My Suicide Prevention Skills

    How Reflective Practice Improved My Suicide Prevention Skills

    More than anything, this is what helped me grow. I’ve made a lot of mistakes and hope you can learn from them. This article breaks down how reflective practice systems changed the game for me in suicide prevention and crisis support. Self awareness, skillset growth, competence and confidence all greatly improved. It covers my experience,…

  • Using Abstraction In Suicide Prevention

    Using Abstraction In Suicide Prevention

    There’s a powerful, hidden skill in suicide prevention. Read this article and you’ll be able to practice it in every day conversation – maybe even with people in distress. Who knows, it might help you support someone down from the edge. It’s called ‘Abstraction’. Abstraction is very popular and well understood in other fields like…

  • How To Write With Life Saving Clarity In Digital Crisis Support

    How To Write With Life Saving Clarity In Digital Crisis Support

    In learning suicide prevention there’s a tonne of obstacles and challenges. It’s hard, scary work and you’re here remove some of those obstacles and equip yourself with tools, skills and mindset to lower the barrier for others too. Long term this kind of work – preventing suicide – changes people, changes families, changes communities and…

  • How To Finally Stop Asking ‘Why’ To People In Crisis

    How To Finally Stop Asking ‘Why’ To People In Crisis

    ‘Why do you think he lied to me?’ she asked yet again, as though we hadn’t covered it a hundred times this week. My eyes wanted to roll as far back into my head as they could, I didn’t let them. I’d been here so many times in my life, with my mum, my exes,…

  • How To Validate Without Taking Sides

    How To Validate Without Taking Sides

    When navigating the often uncomfortable journey to non-judgement, there can be a lot to balance. Between staying within the framework, balancing professionalism with authenticity and learning to gain, spend and repair trust… it’s a lot! On my journey into mental health support work and non-judgemental listening, I always found it helpful to simplify as much…

  • Sentence Stems to Invite More Information

    Sentence Stems to Invite More Information

    When I first started I really struggled. I had no idea what was professional and what wasn’t. How was I meant to be authentic without colluding? Hell I had a hard enough time even holding down basic conversation! Well over time I figured some stuff out, that’s why there’s a lot of theory in this…

  • Trust As Currency

    Trust As Currency

    In mental health work the trust you’re developing is like a bank account. You deposit and withdraw. Over the time you have with your help seeker, the level of trust in your account will change. Sometimes due to stuff you can control (like what you say / income you generate), sometimes due to stuff you…

  • Edit Less, Impact More with Sentence Stem Workshopping

    Edit Less, Impact More with Sentence Stem Workshopping

    Why to Practice Workshopping Sentences When you’re in the hotseat and providing support to someone in crisis, you don’t have time to edit. You’ve got their words waiting for you on the screen, or their voice waiting for you over the phone. You don’t have the luxury of crafting a perfect reply if they’re waiting!…