It is September 10th and Suicide Awareness Prevention Day.

Do not ignore the warning signs of suicide. Are you or someone you love having thoughts of suicide? Ever lost a loved one to suicide?

Suicidal thoughts or actions are a sign of extreme distress so it is important to take action and seek help quickly.

Suicide Awareness: Awareness is essential to changing this behaviour whenever someone wants to end their life on purpose, talks about suicide or bring up concerns about a loved one.

Open communication and prompt help are vital in order to combat suicide. People who die by suicide or attempt suicide usually feel overwhelmed, hopeless, helpless, desperate, and alone.

However, not all people who die by suicide or attempt suicide really want to end their life. It is often a cry for help.

Risk Factors: Many different situations and experiences can lead someone to consider suicide. There is no single cause for suicidal behaviour.

1. Risk factors for suicide may include the family history of suicidal behaviour.
2. Critical life changes or transitions in the teenage or senior years or a serious physical or mental illness.
3. Lifestyle issues such as problems with drugs or alcohol or situations where suicide may seem like the only way to deal with difficult feelings.
4. Even a major loss, such as the death of a loved one, unemployment, or divorce or shame of business loss or failure.

Suicide does not discriminate, people of all genders, ages, and ethnicities can be at risk. In some cases, people who experience psychosis (losing touch with reality) may hear voices that tell them to end their life.

Warning Signs: A few warning signs may include

• Feeling like there is no purpose in life or reason for living
• A sense of purposelessness.
• Also, feeling trapped or a feeling that you cannot get out of whatever,
• Or simply feeling there is no way out of a burdensome situation.

Other signs are feeling intensely anxious, overwhelmed and unable to cope. Being convinced with thoughts and feelings that things will never get better and there's no hope for the future. Or experiencing deep hopelessness or feelings of overwhelming helplessness.

Prevention:

• Not all suicides can be prevented, but some strategies can help reduce the risks,
• The first step to prevention is talking about suicide.
• When the stigma is taken away it's easier to begin learning and understanding how to help those who are thinking of suicide and even helping your self.
• Its also important to remember that suicide is not a normal response to stress neither is it necessarily related to any mental illness.

Strategies:

1. Some suicide prevention strategies are to actively seek treatment reaching out for care and support for mental health concerns.
2. Connect with family, friends or a support group. Such social support networks, such as family, friends, or a faith or cultural community can be there for you in times of need.
3. In addition, learning new coping skills to deal with problems would be beneficial.
4. And when in crisis calling a crisis telephone support line is a very useful choice.

Help and Support: Thoughts of suicide are distressing and suicide is a complicated issue. However its crucial to understand why a person considers suicide as an option and attempt to take their own life.

It is important as a caregiver to take care of your own mental health during this time of help and support for the potential suicider if you're supporting a loved one, it can be a difficult experience.

However, if you're the one considering suicide it is important to talk about your experiences with your doctor, mental health care team, or any other person you trust.

Speak up and reach out because suicide is not and should never be an answer.