Finding HopeWorld Suicide Prevention Day 2026
TW: discussion of suicidal thoughts, suicidal ideation, and chronic suicidality.
I’m never sure whether to say anything during Suicide Prevention Month – or on Suicide Prevention Day, which is today – because my experience with suicidal thoughts isn’t exactly straightforward: I’ve been living with a certain amount of suicidal ideation ever since I was a kid, not that I knew what it was back then, but after a mental health crisis or nervous system collapse (suspected after the fact but I’ll likely never know), the suicidal thoughts and ideation became daily and chronic. I’ve only written about this in depth once, back in 2023, and that piece is still very close to my heart, for a lot of complicated reasons: it covers a very painful but important period of my life, an experience that has and continues to shape me.
I’ve been thinking a lot about this post and what to write or share on social media, what could be helpful. I often feel like I don’t have anything to offer anyone with my experience because it’s ongoing and because I have no idea what I would say to someone (or myself) to make things even the slightest bit better. So I’ve been very unsure about how I could contribute to the conversation of suicide prevention. It was scrolling through the hashtag for Suicide Prevention Month on TikTok that gave me the push to share because, throughout my search, I didn’t find one person talking about an experience similar to mine. I’m sure they exist – the people and the posts they may have made about their experience – but they were clearly in the minority and difficult to find. It was that that helped me make the decision to simply share my experience: because if I’m struggling to find it, someone else – someone looking for anyone else who’s going through what they are – is struggling too…
I don’t know if it will help anyone. I don’t know if it’ll still be viewable tomorrow, whether Instagram or TikTok will decide it violates their guidelines. But if there’s the smallest chance that it helps someone, then I’m glad I did it. No one should ever have to feel like they’re completely alone in something so painful, even if knowing that doesn’t necessarily feel like a positive thing.
I also found a very thorough article about chronic suicidality here that I thought would be useful to share – the whole website is an excellent source of information on many of the topics related to suicide. And please look into the following resources if you feel you might need them: