Suicide threat, distressed poster

[picklemepopcorn]

In chat, just posted.

[Pineappleundersea]

As for the mental health nurse recommending professional help - surely you realise there isn't any?

Six hours odd in a&e to be discharged with nothing in place. Or perhaps taken to a police cell under a 136 if there's no hospital bed. Great for someone who's at the end of their tether.

[PurpleDaisies]

Yeah it's not pleasant to deal with someone on the brink of death when you're trying to while away your time.

You have totally misunderstood why the thread went.

[Battleax]

No it isn't Donkey.

It's 2 or 3 years old and it seems it's been forgotten why it was introduced,

Sometimes I do feel sorry for HQ.

[Bluntness100]

But what about the one (or more) who wasn't previously suicidal but becomes so as a result of reading those threads

Then the responses would help them too, and in addition I can’t deal i. the “maybe” that may not be real, but the actual, that one poster who is posting and just had the door slammed on her face. How does that help the other posters who may be suicidal ? Knowing mumsnet will slam the door on their face too, so they shouldn’t bother asking for help?

[RunningOutOfCharge]

that particular poster from tonight has posted before. its not her first suicidal thread. last one was left to stand, back in the summer. policy changed few years ago ,so not sure why it was left up

[LEMtheoriginal]

Batyleax I remember that to. It was awful and I'd hate that to happen again but I really do feel that mnet has a duty of care to intervene. To have people who are trained who can reach out to the OP via pm and offer support. I am pretty sure they can afford it!

[Nancy91]

There isn't enough help for people with these mental health issues. The NHS and the samaritans aren't these amazing cures that people seem to think they are.

It is nobody's responsibility to help a suicidal person, but people were VOLUNTEERING advice and a listening ear. If someone told me they were about to commit suicide, I wouldn't say "call the crisis team" and then walk away. Somewhat easier to ignore a person in need online I guess.

[FruitCider]

* As a mental health nurse you will know that there is sod all professional help available.*

The Samaritans, police, and hospitals/out of hours emergency health services are open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Not everybody that has a compulsion to take their own lives needs a statutory crisis service.

[PurpleDaisies]

It is nobody's responsibility to help a suicidal person, but people were VOLUNTEERING advice and a listening ear.

They are not qualified to offer advice. Posters want to feel like they’re doing something to help but realistically, the only thing that does help is real life intervention.

[BIWI]

I really do feel that mnet has a duty of care to intervene

No, no, no! How can they?! And what a terrible responsibility for MN to have to bear - seriously. This is just an online chat forum at the end of the day. None of us here knows how to help the OP, no matter how much we might want to. And it's all to easy for someone to say the wrong thing.

It's absolutely right that MNHQ should delete these threads.

[FruitCider]

* people were VOLUNTEERING advice and a listening ear.*

Why are untrained lay people volunteering advice to a suicidal person online? The risks involved with that for the OP are enormous.

[Pineappleundersea]

Have you called the samaritans recently? I did and they were engaged for over an hour.

Do you think police are particularly sympathetic to a suicidal person? Not always.

A&e you'll sit alone in a cubicle in hell for hours until an overworked psych liaison disinterestedly interviews you. Or they're not available til the next day and you're discharged with nothing.

[LipstickHandbagCoffee]

Mumsnet isn’t right medium for suicidal posters.it really isn’t
With best intentions,no one on mn can make an appropriate or safe intervention
And lots of I’m here for you, I’m listening etc isn’t what’s required.
It needs specialist help,and signpost to appropriate mental health services

[Bluntness100]

If someone told me they were about to commit suicide, I wouldn't say "call the crisis team" and then walk away

This is where I’m struggling with it too. Because that’s the policy. I find it difficult to comprehend.

[StrangeLookingParasite]

Gee, better hope I'm never in that poster's position. No Samaritans here.

[Bluntness100]

Why are untrained lay people volunteering advice to a suicidal person online

Because it’s better than no one.

[Battleax]

I really do feel that mnet has a duty of care to intervene

It's not an employer or an educational establishment or similar. It's just a website for chatting on.

They have responsibility for the way they run the site but not the existing MH of the users. Suicidal posting is far too big a thing to hold them responsible for.

[LipstickHandbagCoffee]

Mn has no duty of care. Duty of care sits with statutory services not a chat forum
Mn can’t entire boundaries, can’t monitor and ensure quality of responses
So actually yes these distressing threads should be deleted

[LEMtheoriginal]

Biwi that is why they should consider having trained psych professionals on the paid team. Seems like a no brainer to me. Pull the thread and have someone trained to offer support and coax in the right direction.

[Pineappleundersea]

Why are untrained lay people volunteering advice to a suicidal person online

Because they give a fuck. Like a lay person would attempt first aid rather than watch someone bleed to death.

[FruitCider]

* If someone told me they were about to commit suicide, I wouldn't say "call the crisis team" and then walk away

If someone told you they had chest pain, would you try and insert a cannula and connect them to a EKG yourself? Or would you advise them to get professional help?

[DonkeyOaty]

If I could be arsed I'd search and link the threads on Site Stuff and HQs explanation of the advice from outside agencies. As Battle and BIWI have said they were long and quite distressing

[Nancy91]

The Samaritans I spoke to sounded uninterested, had nothing constructive to say and realistically will have forgotten about me within a matter of hours. You can really see who has used these services and who hasn't on this thread.

[PurpleDaisies]

Because it’s better than no one.

Sadly, that’s not necessarily the case. Someone posted “two year olds as such fun” or something similar on the thread. In suicidal posters mind, that becomes “I don’t even find my own two year old fun, I must be even more worthless than I thought”...

People want to help. They often don’t know how and can unwittingly make things worse.