When someone is struggling with suicidal thoughts, it is often overwhelming and painful. However, we sometimes have misconceptions about it, creating a sense of fear around suicide, making it hard for individuals to talk about it and receive help. 

• Suicide often doesn’t just happen by impulse and it moves through stages such as ideations, plans and attempts.

• While people with suicidal ideations would often try to communicate their intentions, it might not be explicit due to various reasons.

• Emotional or behavioral changes observed are crucial in identifying someone who may be at risk of mental health distress. 

• Talking and checking in with someone on suicidal ideations do not encourage or lead them towards dying by suicide. Giving them a space to talk about it might allow them to express their struggles, and it might also help them to know that you care and want them to live. 

• People with suicidal thoughts struggle very hard to fight against these thoughts to survive. It is not a choice. 

What should I do when I am feeling suicidal? 

• Try your best to resist the urge to do anything to end your life. Wait and sit with these intense feelings and thoughts. 

• Try to keep yourself safe by being around people and letting the people you trust know about how you are doing. 

• Try to remove or keep things that might be harmful to you away from you. 

• Make a safety plan - a set of steps that you can rely on and follow during a crisis

• If you feel you may be at immediate risk of harming yourself, call 995 or approach the A&E department of your nearest hospital 

• Please do reach out and seek professional help if you are struggling with these thoughts.

• Struggling with these thoughts is really tough. There is still hope; you are not alone. 

What can I do if someone shares about their suicidal ideation? 

• Listen non-judgmentally to them and validate their feelings and struggles 

• If the person is in high distress, try to stay with them so that they are not left alone. Seek help immediately. 

• Encourage them to seek help from professional mental health services 

• Reassure them of the support that they have and they are not alone in this struggle 

• When they are more emotionally stable, explore what has helped them in the past. 

• Be aware of your own mental capacity at that moment too and only approach when you feel that you have the capacity to reach out.

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(Reference: Samaritans of Singapore, National Alliance of Mental Illness)