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Stop Trying To Improve Until You’ve Done This
Nobody starts out ‘good’ at crisis support. At least, nobody in the hundreds I’ve mentored, trained or watched go through the journey. When we’re early in – taking those first tentative steps – the expectations we place on ourselves can really hurt. When I first came through I found it incredibly disheartening if things didn’t…
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Responsibility To Increase Ease + Quality Of Your Suicide Support
The biggest barrier to developing non-judgement is the burden of self awareness Learning to hold non-judgemental space for people can be incredibly uncomfortable and confronting. This discomfort begins with self discovery. Its clear we need to let go of our biases, judgements and even the roles we think we have to play (and therefore our…
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3 Keys To Navigating Conversations About Suicide
1. When people are suicidal, they don’t need solutions. Suicidal people don’t feel connected. Suicide is the ultimate form of withdrawal. People withdraw in greater and more devastating ways until finally they withdraw from life itself. If you’re trying to help someone, resist the temptation to provide answers, advice and solutions. Focus on how you…
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Release Unrealistic Expectations For Better Crisis Support
When I first started volunteering in suicide support I struggled to stop offering advice. I’d get feedback from my coach regularly; We let them come to their own answers and solutions We’re not here to solve peoples problems In non-judgement, we hold space for people without expecting a ‘resolution’ My own expectations were constantly setting…
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Are We Aligned?
We all slip out of alignment with the framework sometimes. Perhaps we get caught up in a story. Maybe we offer some advice, moving away from collaboration toward direction. Could be we don’t feel comfortable to sit with a help seeker saying brutally critical things about themselves, so we accidentally deny their feelings in an…
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Balance Appropriate With Authentic By Swimming Between the Flags
Learning crisis support can come with tension. In our training room we’ve heard things like ‘I’m just not sure how much of myself to keep, and how much to leave out‘ and ‘I don’t know if I’ll fit into the role‘ or ‘I feel like I wont be able to change enough in time before…
