Never before have I found myself in this situation. On Monday, my coworker (who happens to also be my hubby’s and my friend), told me that her cousin attempted suicide by taking entire bottles of prescription drugs…blood pressure, blood thinners, etc, all at once. Apparently after a few minutes went by cousin regretted his actions and called her to say what he’d done. She immediately got ambulance called over and went to see him asap. Cousin is now on life support in ICU and in a comatose state. Outlook not too promising, and my coworker is having a rough time dealing with this.
So first question is, any ideas how to best help coworker out? Other than just lending an ear/shoulder to lean on?
Here’s the rub…cousin is also a coworker of ours. If/when cousin makes it back to work, how would you suggest we treat him? Like normally as if nothing ever happened? Acknowledge we know what happened and offer any help needed/wanted?
I’m so sorry. This is painful for all of you. If anyone tries to minimize the impact or the pain, simply walk away without saying anything to him/her.
I just did an Internet search, and here are some of my results:
National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: http://www.suicidepreventionlifeline.org/ or 1-800-273-TALK ([B]1-800-273-8255[/B])
American Foundation for Suicide Prevention: http://www.afsp.org/
How to Help Someone Who Is Suicidal: http://www.helpguide.org/mental/suicide_prevention.htm
Outside the United States, please do a country search at Befrienders Worldwide: http://www.befrienders.org/directory
These phones and web contacts are staffed by trained volunteers who will be able to help you and your family members (and other co-workers) forward.
Best wishes to all of you.
My uncle committed suicide several years ago. It was very hard for the whole family, especially the wife (mom’s sister), as she found his body.
Thankfully, we have a loving family full of support. That’s the most important thing, support. I would do things for the family, like make some food and bring it over to them. Offer to do a service for them, like helping with chores around the house and yard. Its always nice to have people who are willing to offer a hand when the family in question has a lot to deal with.
If you feel that you need to talk to more experienced people, call those numbers that DogCatMom suggested. They are there for a good reason.
Thanks for the numbers…I expect they’ll be getting a few calls in the days to come. As of two hours ago, cousin is still in medicallly induced coma. On life support. On ventilator as he is no longer breathing on his own. Fluid building up in lungs…they don’t really look for him to survive beyond a week. My heart aches for our friend…she is hurting so much, and I’m afraid she’s gonna start feeling guilt soon thinking she could’ve seen some kind of warning sign earlier. For now the family is maintaining a prayerful vigil at the hospital.
I’m so sorry that things are working out like this. Please have your friend call one of the phone lines, too; this is NOT her fault.
I was very careful to hide my state of mind from everyone when I attempted this in high school. No one would have known, even from being around me. My parents were clueless; my friends were blinded by my “normalcy.” This is NOT her fault.