The person is the expert on their own suicidal experience. Develop mutual trust, respect their autonomy, and listen nonjudgmentally.
Avoid platitudes, moralizing, and power struggles. Ask what matters to them rather than telling them how much they have to live for.
If the person becomes less comfortable sharing, check in. They may be worried about what will happen next or have had a difficult experience of care. Ask, listen, and explain the next steps honestly.
“I am here to help you and help build skills so you can help yourself. Are you okay with starting this?”
Empowerment includes helping the person recognize and practice ways to cope, and connect with support. Building skills takes practice over time. In the next section, we will put those skills and supports into a Crisis Response Plan.
Suicide Prevention and Intervention988 support
