988, the suicide hotline, is stupid. The Canadian suicide helpline states cle

Submitted ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago⁩ by ⁨i_need_your_bones@piefed.social⁩ to ⁨rant@lemmy.sdf.org⁩

988, the suicide hotline, is stupid.

The Canadian suicide helpline states clearly that they will call 911 if I “[Am] expressing a strong desire to take [my] own life … or tell [the suicide hotline] that [I] may do so in the very near future”

They clearly state that means a cop will come to my building. They will need to see me. I think I’m in a community who understands how little help that would be.

What the fuck? It’s a suicide hotline I had assumed that was where I needed to be to call in the first place. You know, suicidal. What value does it hold?

What am I suppossed to do. There seems to be this magical goldielocks zone where I’m allowed to try and get help safetly. There’s no place where I can just anonymously talk to somebody about my issues, where they can talk to me about what I can actually do to get help. At least not, at this point, without having to lie about its severity. May that be when I was younger over-exaggerating my issues to get help or now minimizing them to meet that perfect zone.

Makes me fairly certain that there’s a line in therapy too. Some point where I can be written off, trapped in an involuntary psych hold. On that point where is the line? What can I safely talk about? How close to the edge did I need to be before I could call that number. What was the point where I failed to act where did I miss the bus.

This is stupid. What value is there in a suicide hotline that’s not anonymous

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_fryerDan@sh.itjust.works ⁨1⁩ ⁨hour⁩ ago
I dont trust anyone, including therapists, which makes talking to anyone extremely hard. im getting much worse but whatever, im still alive so i guess thats all thats important

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- Lyricism6055@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨hour⁩ ago
  I lied to my therapist back in the day when I was having some serious issues about that so they wouldn’t commit me.
  
  It’s much better now… If you’re able to find a root cause at all for what might cause you stress in life, try cutting that out completely before giving up.
  
  My last ditch effort was completely ignoring my family and quitting my job before ending it. It saved my life to do that.
  
  Idk your situation or if this helps, but I found that therapists I talked to seemed to be afraid to give me advice and talking through my feelings just made it worse for me personally. I needed to take action even if it felt like that action would destroy my life.
  
  Be safe and I hope you’re feeling “better” soon.
  
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mimic_kry@sh.itjust.works ⁨2⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
I called the one here in the US once, and while I don’t want to discourage others from using it, I have to say my experience was pretty terrible.

They weren’t really paying attention, just reading from a script. They also called the cops to my house for a wellness check, which somehow involved two officers with guns to talk to me about staying calm.

I personally find that calling my therapist or the nearby crisis center helps way more.

Just my personal experience.

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FRYD@lemmy.blahaj.zone ⁨1⁩ ⁨hour⁩ ago
Im not in Canada, but I had a similar experience. I had just gotten out of the psych ward and spent 2.5 weeks lying daily about my state and I was exhausted.

I had to go to a family crisis facility to get my prescription bridged and when I called the person on the line asked the classic “Have you had any thoughts about harming yourself or others?” I frustrated said “I’m gonna be real. Why would I ever say anything but ‘no’?” He laughed a little and explained to me that there’s actually stages to suicidal ideation and that was kind of an opener to start a conversation to gauge my risk.

So my rough understanding is that suicidal thoughts or even planning aren’t necessarily ground for an immediate grippy sock vacation. Still it is frustrating to navigate the situation and feels like an inadequate system.

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