, I’m so glad you’re reading this—and I want you to know that people like me are here to listen to your story. Chances are good that there’s a local crisis hotline near where you live; if you’re in th [..]

Generally Accepted Terms Most people in our field agree on what these mean. Attempt

(n). A person who helps with prevention, intervention, or postvention. Usually used to describe the people directly interacting with a person who has thoughts of suicide. It’s also appropriate to use [..]

(n). Hard to define, but we tend to describe it as the condition where a person’s usual coping methods aren’t getting it done anymore. Sometimes a crisis is precipitated by a traumatic event, but ofte [..]

(n). Helping someone who is currently in a suicide crisis. The crisis may involve thoughts of suicide and may also involve attempts/actions. Lethality assessment

(n). The things a person has experienced, particularly regarding suicide. May conflict with theories or beliefs held by others. See this guide to talking about it. Person-first language

(n). A person who’s thinking about suicide. We prefer this in favor of more-judgmental terms like “suicidal person” because it uses person-first language that doesn’t define the person solely by the c [..]

(n). Working with individual people or groups of people to diminish their future risk of suicide. Generally presupposes that the people are not in a suicide crisis right now. Safety contract

(n). A group of suicide deaths that occurred near the same place or around the same time. Does not imply that the deaths were connected or related in other ways. Some people use the term to refer to a [..]

(n). A crisis where a person thinks of suicide. Not all suicide crises lead to attempts; in fact, suicide attempts occur in a relatively small portion of suicide crises. When someone helps a person in [..]