Crisis & suicide
What to bring to the psychiatric hospital
What to bring for a psychiatric hospital stay, what to leave home, and what staff will hold at intake. A practical list from someone who's been in.
Crisis & suicide
1998, the psych ward, crisis lines. How to ask for help and how to give it.
Crisis & suicide
What a psych ward is really like
What is a psychiatric ward really like? Less movie, more waiting room. An honest look from someone who checked himself in.
Crisis & suicide
I checked myself into psychiatry
Can you check yourself into a psychiatric hospital? Yes. How voluntary admission works, and the month I chose to stay after my 1998 attempt.
Crisis & suicide
Self-harm, and why I ended up covered in tattoos
Can tattoos help with self-harm urges? My story, why tattoos are not a treatment, what real help looks like, and how to talk to someone who self-harms.
Crisis & suicide
How to help someone who is thinking about suicide
How can you help someone who is suicidal? Ask directly, listen without judging, don't promise secrecy, connect them to help, and know when to call 911.
Crisis & suicide
How to tell someone you're thinking about suicide
How do you tell someone you're having suicidal thoughts? Who to tell, the actual words, texting it if talking is too hard, and what if they react badly.
Crisis & suicide
Will they send the police? Crisis line myths
Will a crisis line call the police on you? What 988 and 1 866 APPELLE actually say about emergency services, tracing, confidentiality and who can call.
Crisis & suicide
What actually happens when you call a crisis line
What happens when you call 988 or 1 866 APPELLE, step by step: the recorded message, who answers, what they ask, and when emergency services get involved.
Crisis & suicide
Life after my 1998 suicide attempt
Is there life after a suicide attempt? I tried to take my life in 1998. What came after, what wasn't easy, and what I'd tell someone who survived one.