If I tell a counsellor I am suicidal will I be hospitalised?

LegacyUser

Basically for over four months now I've been more or less constantly depressed. This is not a natural spell of being in a bad mood or down, I know myself and I am very obviously (to myself) mentally ill.

I am planning to visit my college counselor but one thing is holding me back. I have suicidal thought almost daily and I am worried if I tell her this I will be hospitalised. They are not thoughts I plan to act on or want to act on, there are just thoughts that are there. I know in some other countries unless you are planning on acting on these thoughts, no-one is told about them and you are not hospitalised. Is this the case in Ireland? I really want to seek help but I feel if I can't tell the counsellor everything it won't help but I really don't want to be hospitalised. Not just because I would be in a psychiatric unit but because I feel everyone I know would find out I am mentally ill and also I would have to defer this year of college which is something I really could not cope with doing. I need to talk to someone so badly but I'm afraid of either being hospitalised or having my family/GP informed about my suicidal thoughts which I do not want to happen. I'm over eighteen so I'm a legal adult.

Big Bag of Chips

The short answer is No. You will not be sent to hospital against your will if you tell the counsellor you have suicidal thoughts. Please don't be afraid to reach out and ask for help. We have a verified representative here on Boards.ie, turn2me.org that you can contact either through the PM facility if you are a registered user, or through their website https://turn2me.org/

Here are some links from The Forum Charter Stickied at the top of the forum

Depression / Mental Health

http://www.irish-counselling.ie/

http://www.dublinsamaritans.ie/

http://www.mentalhealthireland.ie/

http://www.grow.ie/

http://www.aware.ie/

http://www.shineonline.ie/

http://www.recover.ie/ (Schizophrenia Ireland)

http://www.childline.ie/

http://www.teenline.ie/

http://www.pieta.ie/


Suicide

http://www.nosp.ie/ (national suicide prevention)

1Life Suicide Prevention Helpline - 1800 247 100

http://www.pieta.ie/

https://www.turn2me.org/ - registered rep on boards contactable at turn2me.org - reference thread from Dav.

I'm sorry to do this, as I know you have reached out here for help, but I have to lock your thread. We cannot allow threads from posters who express suicidal thoughts to remain open, as nobody here is qualified to advise you properly. To leave a thread open, could leave you open to some dangerous advice from well meaning posters.

Please contact someone from the above list and/or go speak to your college counsellor. There is help available, you don't need to continue to struggle.

I will contact a representative from turn2me.org to come back to offer you advice on this thread.

If you need to contact any of the PI Mods here for anything relating to this thread, you can do so in confidence.

turn2me.org

Hello D&S,

Firstly, I think it's a great idea that you have decided to reach out for some support with your depression - your willingness to do this is the first step on the way to getting the help which you deserve.

My name is Eoin O'Shea and I am a counselling psychologist working at Turn2me, an online mental health organisation (www.turn2me.org)

A Boards moderator recently brought to my attention (as part of a collaborative support arrangement which Turn2me has with Boards) that you had expressed some suicidal thoughts/feelings but were concerned about what might happen if you told a counsellor about this. I agree with Boards mod who suggests above that revealing this to a counsellor will definitely not result in you being hospitalised against your will. As someone who does this work myself, it would only be under the most extreme cases of immediate risk that this would ever be considered. Having suicidal thoughts, though distressing, is actually not that uncommon among people who are suffering in life. You will not be hospitalised for this, especially given that you seem to have no current intention to act on these. So please don't be afraid to tell your college counsellor about how you feel.

If, for some reason, you'd feel more comfortable getting support online, we can provide this confidentially at Turn2me should you wish to (a) avail of our support forums, (b) take part in our Online Support Groups which run every day, (c) consider undertaking online counselling at Turn2me, or (d) use any of the other features at our site.

As part of a new programme called 'Engage' (details of which can be found at www.turn2me.org), we would be happy to offer you up to 8 free online counselling sessions which, through Engage, are then combined with at least two of our other services to make sure you get the support and help you deserve - free of charge.

Please let me know if you'd have an interest in this - just so that I can touch base with you and make sure you've received this message - and you can then apply for the Engage programme online by visiting our site.

I wish you the very best and hope to hear from you soon,

Eoin

EMail: eoin@turn2me.org

Big Bag of Chips

Thank you, Eoin - Thread relocked.