Supporting Your Family & Friends

When someone finds the courage to talk about suicide and self-harm they are actively reaching out for help. This needs to be addressed immediately.

It is important to respond with compassion and kindness. You can help the person by:

• listening to them in a non-judgemental way
• reassuring them that thoughts of suicide or self-harm are common and help is available, and
• support them to access professional mental health support (research tells us people often like to access online resources first and then connect with a qualified counsellor) 

If the person has immediate plans to act on thoughts of suicide, this is a mental health emergency. Support the person to call 000, or to call Lifeline on 13 11 14 for 24/7 crisis support.

Click Here for more information about supporting friends and family with thoughts of suicide.

Click Here for more information about supporting friends and family with self-harm behaviour.

For people in the Brisbane area, you can Contact Us for support and to help connect the person you are supporting to access free non-judgemental and personalised counselling available at our Morningside or Carindale locations.