Start by asking questions

The first step is to find out whether the person is in danger of acting on feelings about suicide. Be sensitive, but ask direct questions, such as:

• How are you coping with what's been happening in your life?
• Do you ever feel like just giving up?
• Are you thinking about dying?
• Are you thinking about hurting yourself?
• Are you thinking about suicide?
• Have you ever thought about suicide before or tried to harm yourself before?
• Have you thought about how or when you'd do it?
• Do you have access to weapons or things that can be used as weapons to harm yourself?

Asking about thoughts or feelings about suicide will not push a person into suicide. In fact, giving someone a chance to talk about feelings may reduce the person's risk of acting on those feelings.