Fact: Asking a young person about suicide can protect them.

Asking about suicide can seem daunting, especially with young people, but it is always safer to ask and give them the opportunity to get help and talk about their feelings. 

A suicidal young person will already have heard of, thought about and possibly researched suicide. You will not be ‘planting’ an idea.

If a young person doesn’t know what suicide is when you ask, it is an opportunity to explain carefully and sensitively and give them the tools to express themselves in a healthy way and hopefully avoid suicidal thoughts in the future. Some younger children may not understand the word ‘suicide’ but use phrases like ‘sleep forever’ or ‘go to be with (a deceased person)’. 

Conversations and language around suicide need to be carefully managed.  Asking a young person if they’re having suicidal thoughts gives them permission to tell you how they feel and let them know they are not a burden.

Our youth-specific resource below has a comprehensive plan for a conversation about suicide. 

Fact: Many suicidal crises can be relatively short-lived.

Most young people who feel suicidal do not want to end their lives, they just want the situation, pain or feelings to end. 

The distinction may seem small, but it is very important. It’s why talking to young people about staying safe for now and finding the right help is so vital. Anyone can learn how to safely intervene until they can be connected with further support.

The feelings and experiences that cause suicidal thoughts can be particularly heightened in young people. It can help to remind them that intense feelings can and will pass, and they will not feel this way forever. 

Fact: Anyone talking about suicide needs serious attention.

Threatening suicide is a serious sign that a young person needs help. It can be useful to reframe this – instead of thinking that ‘attention-seeking’ is negative, think practically. Of course this person is seeking attention, they are struggling with pain that they cannot manage. The attention they need may well save their lives.

Most people who die by suicide have talked about it first. Do not dismiss any mention of suicide, especially in young people, as ‘dramatic’ or ‘attention-seeking’. We should always take any mention of suicide seriously.

Fact: Warning signs, verbally or behaviourally, precede most suicides.

Most young people struggling with thoughts of suicide try to communicate that they need help. This could even be on an unconscious level.

Young people who are suicidal may only show warning signs to those closest to them. If those people don’t know what to look for or don’t recognise what’s going on, suicide can seem sudden or without warning.

It is so important to be alert to any changes in a young person’s behaviours, particularly if those changes are for the worse. A life event, parental divorce, bad grades, suspension or falling out with a friend or group can all be huge events in a young person’s life. 

These subtle warning behaviours and comments can easily be missed, especially if many people see many sides of a young person’s struggle.

Fact: One in five people will think about suicide at some points in their life. 

While mental health issues are widespread, it is important to remember that not everyone who dies by suicide has a mental health problem. 

Youth suicide is complex and most likely a combination of individual, societal, relationship and community factors and should never be attributed to one thing exclusively. 

Young people can have a lot to deal with at school, at home, internally and externally. Struggling to navigate their feelings does not make them mentally ill, and it is not a sign of ‘insanity’ to consider taking your life. 

Fact: Young people who attempt suicide are suffering with deep and overwhelming feelings that could make them feel worthless, helpless or in despair.

They often feel they are a burden to others. They may believe that suicide is the only way out to end their intense suffering and pain. 

Suicidal feelings can be heightened and made more intense in young people as they experience rapid changes socially, emotionally, hormonally and personally. 

Reaching the point of considering suicide is never ‘easy’ and to suggest a suicidal person is being selfish may reinforce their negative thoughts and low self-worth. 

Fact: Active suicidal ideation is often short-term and situation-specific.

Suicide is often an attempt to end painful emotions and thoughts. Once these thoughts dissipate, or a situation changes, so will the suicidal ideation.

Research shows that the most intense periods of feeling suicidal will change after around 24 hours and suicidal thoughts can be interrupted with timely intervention. 

Young people may continue to have thoughts of suicide even after the worst periods have passed. This does not make them a constant danger to themselves, in fact, many people with suicidal thoughts live long and fulfilling lives.

The most important thing is to communicate effectively and safely with a young person, so that they know who to talk to and where to go when they start having these thoughts.