 While we focus much of our messaging on wellness, self-care, and coping activities, we can never forget that so many of us are silently suffering. September’s suicide awareness campaigns remind us not only to take care of our own mental health, but to look around ourselves a little more carefully. Be a little more attentive. Listen a little more closely for those tiny clues that we usually don’t notice. Recently, I was reminded of this with a client who reached out after their weekly session to let me know they were actually not okay. They were not coping as well as they appeared to be. They were feeling hopeless and were starting to think about ways they might attempt suicide rather than their previous reports of coping with depression and anxiety. This person did not present themselves the way we imagine someone who is thinking of suicide would act. They smiled. They laughed. They went to work. They went to the grocery store. They did all the normal things. They told people they were “fine”. Thankfully, that person reached out to me. We spent four hours together that day doing everything we could together to ensure their safety. We spent an hour the next day. Two hours a couple days after that. If you’re feeling hopeless, suicidal, like there’s no use trying anymore - don’t keep silent. Tell someone close to you, or your doctor, or your coworker, or your pastor. Ask them to help you get started. Ask them to help you make the phone calls. Ask them to help you find resources. If you have no one, call 911. Call or text 988 or text TALK to 741741. Llama o envía un mensaje de texto al 988 o envía un mensaje de texto con AYUDA al 741741. If you are in Southwest Florida, we also recommend calling Crisis Prevention & Empowerment’s Mobile Crisis Response Hotline (free), any time day or night (even holidays!) at 844.395.4432 if you are in crisis. Lastly, if you are doing okay, watch out for each other, and remember to keep watching when September is over. 
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