this post was submitted on 03 Apr 2024
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I have a friend who lives in another city about 3 hours from where I live. We were really close in middle school and high school but had a falling out, a few years ago we reconnected and found out we were both in our transitions now. We haven't made too much of an attempt to be long distance friends but we both have made trips to visit the other a few times now.

They've been having a hard time keeping a job, and I know they had a rough spot in their relationship, and then last night they posted a cryptic almost goodbye message to their Facebook and now they're not responding to calls/texts/anything and I don't know what to do. It's not my place to do a wellness check, especially would never call the police for one, but I don't know any of their IRL friends who could check. Or if they have any. I'm really worried about them and it's been the main thing on my brain all night/morning. I have to go to work now and somehow just be like "I think my friend is gone but I'm here ๐Ÿ˜…"

Idk what to do other than to continue living my life as I was and I feel such guilt for that. Not really sure why I made this post if I'm asking for advice or if I'm just venting or what.

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[โ€“] [email protected] 21 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

Does that city have any LGBT-focused social workers or support groups? Here there's a specific coordinator within municipal mental health services who works with that community. One of those two might be willing to do an informal wellness check.

edit: Or progressive churches and mutual aid groups. I'd wager our local Unitarian Universalists or Food Not Bombs group would at least know who to contact if they wouldn't do it themselves.

[โ€“] [email protected] 14 points 7 months ago

I dont know what to say or how to help, but if you need an ear, feel free to DM me any time Care-Comrade

[โ€“] [email protected] 11 points 7 months ago

If you know anyone in that area who is a decent person and could check for you maybe contact them.

[โ€“] [email protected] 7 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

If you're not close enough to feel comfortable going to them and doing a wellness check or calling one in with a non-police local org, then I'd give it a little longer before going any further, or even really worrying too much, at the very least a full day. Odds are they're fine (well probably not happy but you know, physically fine) and just disconnecting from the world and working through shit. I mean shit idk if they have vices but if they got super drunk or stoned or something they could still be asleep with a dead phone. I've probably done a depression sleep longer than that.

If you really think there's an immediate danger you could avert that's different but just being cryptic and ghosting everyone for like 12-18 hrs isn't usually that. You know them better than we do.

I'm sorry you're going through this, not knowing what to do or not being able to do anything is just the worst... meow-hug

[โ€“] [email protected] 7 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Have you called their neighbors? Or anyone else they know?

[โ€“] [email protected] 3 points 7 months ago (1 children)

I don't know anyone in the area. And they moved after I visited last and I never got their updated address.

[โ€“] [email protected] 5 points 7 months ago

I hope they're not ghosting you.

Keep calling. Definitely try to pinpoint the area that they may be in.

[โ€“] [email protected] 4 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

I'm really sorry to hear it.

There's already good advice in this thread and I don't have anything to add about what to do regarding options for wellness checks.

I think it's important not to frantically contact them over and over or to make demands about them needing to contact you (not implying that's what you would do) but I would try to contact them in a personal way if possible and write them something heartfelt about how you value them as a person and explaining how the world is a better place with them in it.

I'd move on to the next phase where I would empathise with their struggles and try to recognise their strengths and their resilience where possible, but only in a genuine way. (As a person who deals with chronic suicidality I hate when people give me throwaway lines when I am in a particularly bad place where people say something like "You are strong and resilient, you'll get through this!" and I am like, MFer what do you mean "through"?? I am this. There is no through. Can you please stop compounding my feelings of isolation and helplessness?)

I would sign off by assuring them that you understand their need to take time to prioritise themselves, that you support them doing that, and that you will be here to pick things up where they have left off whenever they are in a place to reach out again and that if they feel like they need your support but they can't sorta "do" the normal being-a-friend stuff because it's too much right now that they are always welcome to reach out for support at any time and that if they tell you that it's urgent that you'll do everything you can to prioritise it asap.

I wouldn't say that you will immediately drop everything to provide support because that's both an unrealistic expectation to set for yourself (what do you do if you're not allowed to use your phone at work or you're asleep and you didn't hear your phone go off?) but also because a lot of people say "I'm here for you" or "reach out any time" and a person who is suicidal will try to cash in on those assurances when it's things are getting really bad only to find out that "any time" actually means "during waking hours but also don't call me when I'm at work because I don't want to deal with it then" etc. so yeah... it's also important to set realistic expectations for them because there's a good chance that unrealistic expectations have failed them in the past so it's reasonable to assume that they probably feel jaded when someone tells them this stuff and it's important to recognise that and to (possibly) validate that experience.

Obviously avoid any guilt, shame, blame or demands.

I would personally avoid discussions about reminiscences except where they have done things that have made a significant positive impact on your life personally because talking about the impacts on other people or bringing up the better times can highlight the contrast between those times and how they are feeling in the present. It can bring up feeling of loss and grief but also it's important to understand that while those times might have been good in the moment, there may have been traumatic events associated with that time, including ones that you aren't aware of, and an acutely suicidal person can kinda latch on to the narrative that even the good times are terrible or it can make them feel even more isolated ("I'm glad you had a wonderful time back then but you have no idea how horrible things were for me at home. I guess your enjoyment of life takes precedence over my experience of suffering..." kinda stuff.)

Continue living your life and know that ultimately suicide is a choice that a person makes, generally because their experience of suffering is completely intolerable to them at that point in their lives, and that unfortunately if someone is truly determined to take their own life then they will find a way to do it; suicides can happen under strict surveillance in psych wards with a team of trained professionals whose entire job is to make sure that doesn't happen, and it's not like you have anywhere near those resources. Sucks to say it but that's the reality of it.

Try not to take on too much blame or responsibility, just do what you can even if you are extremely limited in what you are able to do for the other person, and hold hope for that being enough and for things improving for them.

I hope that things are okay, that you are taking care of yourself through this, and that the feelings of guilt aren't too persistent.

If you want to pick my brain about my experience of suicidality to get a better understanding of it/how to handle suicidality or to support someone experiencing it, go for it - I can only speak to my personal experience of it but also there's not much that is off the table for discussion either and you'd really have to try before you'd strike a nerve.

[โ€“] [email protected] 3 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

I've been in your position few more times than I care to have been. It's scary and sucks - I one time messaged an employer to check. Other advice here is good.

In at least my experience of this maybe 10 times with four different people, every time it has been a scare that didn't materialise. Some people really keep to themselves for a day or two after intense episodes. I really know it isn't fun though, hope they're okay and you hear from them soon meow-hug