Life is hard, let's help to make it easier
Depression... “It feels like I’m stuck on an island, and every so often something pulls me back into the water, I feel like I’m drowning and when my depression gets really bad I don’t want to keep fighting, I don’t want to get back to safety, I just want to stop having to fight… but I continue to fight, deep down I know that I should, if not for me then for something else. Every time it ends I always know that it might come and it scares me a bit... after 5 years of experience though, I feel like I have a lot of tools under my belt to make it easier to swim up next time” (Anonymous Female 21, Metis)
If you are working with someone and feel like they may be thinking of suicide, it is important to ask upfront if suicide is on their mind. Do not shy away from the word suicide, it is better to ask clearly than jump around the question. If you are working with someone and they have admitted that they are immediately planning to die by suicide, call the emergency services as soon as you and the individual(s) can; you can suggest the individual(s) try calling with you in the room for support. The person you are helping may become angry with you or plead with you to not let professional emergency services know. In my experience, I would rather have a friend alive and beyond angry with me than dead.
Intrusive Thoughts "Yeah I've had intrusive thoughts, some are a bit more harmless while others can be dangerous. I have thought about whipping my phone at a wall, I have also thought about ending my life, or driving off a part of a hill that has slid just to see what happens. Sometimes I just have to acknowledge I have had that thought and move forward." (Anonymous Female 21, Metis) "
Therapeutic support groups are one of the best tools to help anyone with deep or long-term depression issues. Accessing therapeutic support groups is often step one in creating a more extensive support network in a person's life and can be included as a self-care technique, a safety option, as a quick bandaid, and as a way to connect to positivity.
Depression... well it feels like an uphill battle like I'm trying to go uphill... with a grand piano on my back... and the hill is slippery. I just felt such a big disconnect from your previous interests, yeah it's just like I had lost my spark for life. For me the mental health walk-in was helpful, like if I needed to talk to someone and my appointment was maybe a few more days away, it was helpful to be able to talk to someone right away" (Anonymous Female 22, Non-indigenous)
