Published on 12, July, 2020
I've written on here many times as my obsession is with suicide prevention, which I have got caught up with in a big way, but do not want to die , but realise that we autistics have a very high risk of this.
I've tried the usual things with drugs, psychotherapy etc and in my quest (as a research doctor) , I ve now set up a major research group , with many of the National experts in the country. It has taken years to get to this point but we are approaching a launch and I wondered about others opinions as to a useful avenue.
Existing services are largely medical ( with no evidence they save lives) and listening eg Samaritans (who NEVER give advice), but always listen and chat to ask you about your worries.
We will have a launch to thousands of people. and I feel we need a NEW service that is effective. Many suicidal thoughts relate to problems which are not medical (they are about relationships, finance, legal matters etc) so my idea is to give free access to any experts who wish to register and help with suicidal distress with anonymised (safe advice) I know my problems would have been helped with legal advice, rather than medical.
So FREE EXPERT ADVICE , but creation of a record to monitor peoples requests/ story / perhaps suicide risk factors and safety factors
Do you think this service would be useful and popular? It would all be free and rely on people donating their expertise for free (anonymised).
It would all be on an anonymised database (which could be researched) , but data GDPR security would be essential.
Any thoughts?
Hi Dave, I’m very interested in this topic as suicide has been many things to me over my whole life. For many years, the thought that I could kill myself if things got too bad, gave me a lot of comfort. But then I moved on to researching how to do it and with that, how to prevent it.
Long story short, when my dad died, I didn’t think I could live without him. I had tried to imagine what it would be like to live without him as a way to try and help me when it happened, but I couldn’t. My mind seemed unable to envision it, and because I had often thought that I couldn’t live without my dad, in the midst of my grief when it happened, I became psychotic, found myself alone and suicidal, and contacting the crisis team and other places for help and even though I knew what I needed, nobody could provide it.
i needed a safe place to be, where I could allow my feelings to be expressed and to have somebody there to remind me that I’m experiencing strong emotions and that’s why I feel like I want to die, a to remind me it’s natural to experience strong feelings when a parent dies, and that you’re ok. And I just wanted to be looked after for a few days or so, fed and watered etc, I wouldn’t eat much b if it was provided, it would help me to start getting some balance, so I could release these intense pent up emotions, and not have it end in suicide. But nobody could help me, so I took control anhandled it my way from then on. I didn’t go to the funeral, which I had told him before he died that I didn’t think I would be able to and he understood. And I had the most incredible experience doing it my way, that the strength I gained from that, was worth the pain, but I’m well aware that we don’t all have the strength at that time, which is evident by this conversation. So I would love to consider this more, as I do feel passionate about both preventing things coming to that and being there for people in a way that’s meaningful and helpful to them, which can never be a one size fits all due to the complexity of autism and the situation, but I think a strong, reliable, committed effort could be a really good start towards progress in this area. It’s such a common experience for many of us who suffer with it mostly in silence, and I think more awareness and support for it, also opens up opportunities to help each other grow stronger and have the freedom to break out of the stereotypes and make our presence known, through our actual progress. I’ll read and process what you said a few more times and I’m sure I’ll get back to you. It’s certainly something I feel passionate about.
I thought I would see the response from people on here, as autistic people have a specialised expertise in this and I believe will have extra "lived experience factors" to save lives with their ideas and actions