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RELAX! TAKE A DEEP BREATH. STAY CALM.
You can help this person
choose life. Pray. God is with You!
For assistance from
another New Hope Online Counselor use your AOL Instant Messenger
Buddy List
1. Establish Rapport
· “It seems you’re
in a lot of pain.”
· “I want to understand
how you feel.”
· “I'm concerned for
you. Please don't leave.”
· “What happened recently
to lead you to feel this way?”
2. Assess Suicide
Risk
· “Are you having thoughts
of killing yourself?” (If yes, go to next question.)
· “Do you want to kill
yourself?” (If yes, go to next question.)
· “Do you have a plan
for how you'd kill yourself? How? When?” (If suicide is in
progress or imminent then go to step 6. If you have time to
intervene then go to step 3.)
· Additional questions
that may be helpful in assessing suicidality include: “Have you
tried to kill yourself before?” “Do you have family or friends
who have killed themselves?”
3. Diffuse Crisis
with Empathy (Reflect Feelings. Don’t challenge or persuade)
· “What seem to you
to be the advantages of suicide?”
· “For you what appear
to be the disadvantages of living?”
4. Reinforce Reasons
to Live (Inspire Hope)
· “What are the advantages
of continuing to live?” (Do not accept “none.” Search
for a positive purpose: child, friend, faith, pet, job, hobby,
favorite food or activity.)
· “What are the disadvantages
of suicide?” (Ask this question if the person remains
suicidal. Do not accept “none.” Possibilities include: becoming
disabled for years, pain, you would’ve changed your mind as most
suicidal people do, things would’ve improved, hurting a loved
one.)
5. Set Contract
for Living: Have the chatter choose life by
committing to a time to check in with his/her doctor, therapist,
minister, family, friend, or New Hope.
6. Attempt to Prevent
a Suicide (ONLY if person won’t choose life or suicide is in progress):
· Plead, pray, beg,
or cry with the person to choose life. This works more often than
you think! (Getting the person to vomit up pills, put away the
gun, call their doctor or hospital, sit with a loved one, or choose
life in another way is a much better outcome than you contacting
the police.)
· Try to get identifying
information to locate the chatter so that you can contact the
local police where that person lives: Ask questions (you may need
to be subtle or sleuth-like), check the chatter’s Pre Chat Survey,
or try using services below. *
· Call the police in
the city or county of the chatter or call 911. You may or may
not get help. Identify yourself as a crisis counselor with New
Hope Online and provide the information you have about the chatter’s
suicide risk and location. Ask the police to send follow up to
Quinn Webb at QuinnW@CrystalCathedral.org
or 714-971-4308.
· Use your AOL Instant
Messenger Buddy List of counselors for support and back up help.
· Contact Quinn Webb
with chatter status and how you’re feeling.
· Pray and let go to
God in prayer. You’ve done what you can!
* Services that
may help you locate a chatter:
· At http://www.zabasearch.com/
you can enter someone’s name and find their address. If zaba finds
the person click on his/her name under the free listings (below
the “premium listings” where they want to charge you to help you).
· At http://www.melissadata.com/lookups/phonelocation.asp
you can enter someone’s city to find their phone area code and
prefixes.
· At http://www.arin.net/
you can enter the chatter’s IP Address (from the “Info” Tab by
the chatter’s name) to find the administrative phone (24-hour
emergency line) and address of the chatter’s Internet Service
Provider (ISP). This may not work because ISP’s often don’t cooperate
without a warrant. Also, they change user’s IP Addresses sometimes
within 30 minutes.
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