It is Ok to Ask4Help!
If you or someone you know is in immediate danger of taking their life please call 800-237-8255 (the National Suicide Prevention Hotline) or call 911 immediately. The hotline is an anonymous phone line that is open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
211 Hotlines offer local community resources and help to people in distress as well.
To Lookup your local 211 Hotline number, go to www.211.org or click here to do a search for 211 Community Resources. In Hillsborough County dial 211 or (813) 234-1234 from an 813 area code.
National Youth Hope Line: 1-800-442-4673
Providing counseling and referrals for:
- Drug Treatment
- Shelters
- Counseling Services
- Pregnancy
- Sexual Assault
- Suicide
- Child Abuse
This line operates 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
Chat and Texting Help: www.youthadvise.com
You can chat on-line via KIK, E-mail, and even via Cell Phone Texting (530) 968-8423. This is not a Suicide Hotline and is only available between 10 A.M. - 5 P.M. Eastern Standard Time, Monday through Friday. These are trained counselors who dispense advice, not drugs, to help a person through the crisis they are experiencing. They assist all people ages 13 and above, including Veterans and the Elderly.
Warning Signs of Suicidal Thoughts:
- Abrupt changes in personality
- Giving away possessions
- Previous suicide attempts
- Abusing drugs and/or alochol
- Severe change in eating habits
- Change in sleeping patterns
- Unwillingness to communicate
- Depression
- Unusual sadness or feeling discouraged
- Talking of wanting to die
- Running away from home / truancy from school
- Chronic pain
- Rebelliousness, reckless behavior
- Neglect of academic work and personal appearance
- Family disruptions such as divorce or losing a loved one
Other things you should do if someone is suicidal:
- Remove the means in which they may use to harm themselves
- Get immediate help from a trusted adult, mental health provider or school counselor immediately
- Talk to them... Say: ” Are you thinking about killing yourself”? If they say yes, get them help as soon as possible
- Stay with them
- Tell them that you care and that you are going to stay with them until they get help and stay with them until help arrives
- Let them talk if they want to. Listen, really listen to what they say... take them seriously
- Keep giving them support after they have gotten help. You can do this just by telling them you care and sending them texts of encouragement or giving them a hug. This is when they need to feel accepted, that someone cares and there is hope for them
- Stick up for them if someone is rejecting or bullying them
Create a Safety Plan:
Creating a plan can remind someone of helpful things they can do when they are depressed or distressed. It can be created in a step by step process. The list of things to do can remind someone to take the steps they created when needed.
Encouraging the person to store the 800-273-8255 TALKLINE and their local 211 line in their contacts can be helpful as well.