Social Media timelines and status posts are always filled with people’s life activities and updates on the go while thoughts, and emotions (feelings) are not left out.
Some of these are evident in the about sections of the profiles of your friends and family on Facebook, Twitter and WhatsApp, just to mention but a few, and we constantly browse and share in their moments. We react; like, laugh, wow, love and even frown at some, if at all we don’t comment or reply to them.
When it comes to the most interesting of them, we are quick to pass reactions, comments or replies and we call it; “sharing in their moments” but to hit the centre of the whole issue, things go awkwardly wrong sometimes and that is where the problem lies!
Have you read through a friend’s timeline, viewed their statuses or at least browsed their moments and felt worried about the safety of their life, judging from what you saw? And your reactions?
For a fact, some of us are quick to ignore the other side of the story, posts about the “possibility” of a friend or family member committing suicide. The reason may be attributed to what “goes on” on social media.
That is to say, since most people often update their social timelines and statuses about how they are feeling bad, we are almost always fast at ignoring such messages. We sometimes assume such ones are overly being dramatic or trying to steal our attention as it often goes on with Social posts.
Did you know? Many of your friends will disregard your status if it is about “Suicide” without trying to find you some help! We found out when we tried it. This article will soon be updated with the results we obtained.
— PHILEMON O’ARPELLEH
However, it is always best not to ignore social posts about suicide as we actually may not know about what someone is going through or what could trigger such posts. That said, if you ever stumble upon a post from your friend in your social feeds about a “possible” suicide, please don’t ignore it without giving it a second thought and trying to offer them the help needed.
Kindly try to get them some help however uncomfortable that may seem because you can never tell if nature is calling you to save a precious life!
By now, I can tell the question you’re asking: “How do I help someone who has updated their social media timeline with a suicide message or post?” (please forgive me if I got this wrong, I am not a mind-reading machine). Let’s dive right in!
Type a message to them or reply to them with positive messages, encouraging them to seek help. Yes, don’t ignore them, they may be pouring out their honest emotions and intentions to you and you should act fast to save them or at least get them some help to get saved.
So you should tell them a short message of encouragement. Listen to them, or pay attention to them if they reply and offer to speak to or tell you something. Just be positive. In the short run, encourage them to seek further help from their honest loved ones or a trusted professional (suicide counsellor).
Please do not try to handle the situation yourself. (Always refer them to the appropriate professional). A suicidal person needs immediate assistance from qualified mental health professionals.
SUICIDE.ORG
There are numerous stories on the internet about people who committed suicide after posting messages that suggested so. Those who ignored such victims later lived on with the regrets of ignoring them and not trying to find them help.
Don’t be part of such stories, write a different one, a story that you helped save a “brother’s” life. What if they ignored your comment or reply? Reach them out on a phone call and if they fail to respond, take step two below.
Reach out to the person’s family members or close friends you know
This is very useful when the person is not responding to your message or call to help them out and in instances when you are not close to them and therefore cannot contact them in person.
Contacting their immediate family members or close friends will be very helpful as they may not already be aware of the person’s current intentions. In contrast, they may be aware of the person’s past suicidal plans or further actions including details of the current one that you may not be aware of.
Whatever the case, just reach out to them and honestly tell them your observation. They may be in a better disposition to offer more help than you can think of. They will be glad you reached out to them. What if this option isn’t possible because you just stumbled upon the person’s post and know little about their relatives? You can act further to get them the needed help. Just don’t give up on the person or your honest intentions to get them help.
Get help online for them using Suicide Help Tools or Hotlines
These are the possible actions you can take. If you saw the suicide post on Facebook (or any other Social Network), then report the post to Facebook* (them) anonymously and they can take further steps to investigate and get the needed help for the person.
You can also call the nearest police office to describe how you are worried about your friend’s current suicide-suggesting post. Work hand in hand with them to provide the necessary information they’ll need on your report to assist them to provide the needed help for your friend.
*Do you want to check Facebook’s “Report Suicidal Content” Page and learn more about reporting suicidal posts or content on the platform? Please use the button below:
Far to this end, you have learnt a lot about how to get help for those who post updates about their intentions of committing suicide. I am very hopeful that this short article will provide a simple but solid guide on the subject discussed herein. Please let us know your thoughts on this post in the comment section below and do share this article to help others. Together we can help save lives.
References: WikiHow, Suicide Organization, Mashable
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