Social Support
- Social support through friends, family, and peers can help in coping with stress by providing a sense of belonging, self-worth, and security.
- Recommendations for increasing social support:
- Make a list of friends and family whom you consider to be positive supports and make an effort to contact them regularly.
- Talk openly with those people you have identified and be specific as to what you need from them.
- Listen to those people as they talk about their thoughts, feelings, and experiences.
- Make social plans to strengthen your relationships.
- You can also find social support through seeking out professional mental health services or support groups.
- Offering support to others when they are going through stress, depression or other mental health concerns helps to reduce the stigma in discussing mental health concerns.
- Through support you may be able to encourage someone who is in crisis to seek services that they may require.
- Men are particularly likely to avoid seeking support, both personal and professional, especially when they are experiencing increased levels of stress.
- If you notice someone in a suicidal crisis you can offer support by:
- Learning the risk factors for suicide, and discuss them with the individual openly and in a nonjudgmental manner.
- Allow the individual to express his/her feelings and accept that he/she is really feeling that way.
- Don’t lecture on why suicide is wrong or the value of life.
- Show interest and support in the individual.
- Don’t dare the person to do it.
- Don’t act shocked, understand that suicidal thoughts and depression are common and treatable.
- Don’t ask why or be sworn to secrecy.
- Offer hope, suggest alternatives, but don’t promise that the alternatives will solve the person’s problems.
- If possible, remove lethal means available to the person.
- Seek help from someone with expertise (counseling center, police, residence assistant, advisor, etc.) and encourage the individual to seek help.
Sources: http://www.nmha.org/go/mental-health-month/building-social-support; http://whatadifference.org/; http://www.suicideinfo.ca/csp/assets/alert66.pdf
