this message may be offensive
TW, CW, WHATEVER U WANNA CALL IT, WARNING!!.
when I talked to the suicide hotline for the first time when I was 14, they told me if I wasn't planning on killing myself then I shouldn't call or text the hotline.
when I told them I often thought about suicide, fantasized about it, planned it out, or made plans about how it could go, they said if I didn't have an immediate plan to kill myself, I shouldn't call or text the hotline.
when they asked if I had ever hurt myself, or thought of hurting myself, I said 'yes, I have and I do'. they said it didn't matter unless I had an immediate plan to kill myself, I shouldn't call or text the hotline.
one of the first signs someone is seriously considering suicide is self harm. another is reaching out for help, a call for help is often the last time someone reaches out, a last ditch effort if you will
I'm posting this for awareness, because I've been thinking, what if that call was the last I had made, my last ditch effort? what if I just didn't want to admit that I was this | | close to ending it all?
It physically hurts me to think about all the poor souls who hoped just one person would care, who wished that maybe, just maybe someone could help them through their struggles, but when they made their call, they were met with automated, basic questions instead of empathy and care, that they were told they weren't a priority because there were people who 'actually needed help' and they simply slipped through the cracks.