Hi there! It's Kati again! Thanks for checking back!
Now today, obviously, I'm back in my office, like I was the past two weeks.
And the reason that I wanted to do it here, for this week's video is because the topic
that I want to talk to you a little bit about is something that is really serious.
There's no better way to put it.
And I want to talk to you a little bit about suicide.
I know, you're thinking, 'I can't believe she's saying that... oh my God!',
but the one thing, as a therapist, the way I was trained,
is that the worst thing you can do, is to not talk about it.
Okay, why?
Well, just like when we talk about our eating disorders, the less we talk
about something, the more power it actually has over us.
And suicide, is usually something that someone will do, when they feel very isolated.
Right? You're not going to commit suicide in front of a group of people,
it's something you do on your own.
So the more we talk about it, the less power it has over us,
and hopefully the more strength we have later, to deal with it. Right?
And those thoughts that we get sometimes.
And the main reason that this topic came up for me, is because I've
heard from many of you, whether you've been having a tough time,
or you know of someone who is having a tough time, and you've kind of come to me,
seeking advice.
So I just want to make sure that this is out there, in case anyone else is having
these kind of issues, and they don't know who to turn to, or what to do.
This can be something you can reference, you know, rewatch it if something like
this does come up.
So the first thing I want to talk about is, if you yourself are having thoughts of suicide.
What do we do? Right?
Usually we isolate, but what I'd encourage you to do, is to contact a safe person.
Whether it's a therapist, whether it's a best friend you really trust with that information.
Talk to them about it.
You don't have to say 'Oh I'm thinking of committing suicide.'
You can just say 'You know I've been feeling really down
lately and just had a hard time feeling motivated to help myself.'
However you want to get into it, you don't have to just dive right in
with all this information.
Create a safe outlet for yourself so that the feelings and the thoughts don't
get so overwhelming.
Does that make sense?
So we have a little emotional outlet.
Also, I mean, I know for many of the people on my website, creating videos and posting
them on my website, or creating a youtube channel and posting on there, can be an
outlet for a lot of emotions we feel, and the venting, and then you can get some
feedback too, and some comments from other people.
'Hey I've been there too, this is what I did' ... stuff like that.
So create some outlets, for that overwhelming emotional feeling, right?
Also, like I always say, journal!
Sometimes we don't realize why we're having such intense thoughts, until we
write about what's happening, what happened the day before, what's going on.
Maybe you got in a huge fight with your mom or your Dad or your best friend;
something has instigated that emotional response.
So, take a little time and think about it, from almost an objective perspective,
because we get so entrenched in those thoughts that we can't really see out of it.
Okay? So just to review:
we're going to find an outlet to vent the emotions, whether it's a video or a friend,
and we're going to journal about it to try to pin point what happened,
what spurred the thoughts, okay? Those are just some start up tips and ideas.
And obviously we'll do more than just this video on this.
But this is just a topic I wanted to start touching on.
So the second portion is if someone you know, is having thoughts on suicide.
What do I do?
A lot of people feel really concerned and scared, and then they feel almost guilty,
like if something were to happen it would be their fault.
The first thing you can do, is refer them to any kind of hotline.
There's suicide hotlines, teen help.
I know that it differs from what area you live in, even states, cities,
A lot of them have their own set up hotlines.
Maybe just keep those on hand, write some notes down, so you have that.
That's the first thing that you can do.
Second thing, you could just encourage them to reach out to
Maybe you're that close friend, kind of ask them what's going on,
how come, let them know you're there for them.
Give them support, and love. But don't get too drawn in.
We have to be careful, right? We've talked about boundaries the past two weeks.
We have to create a clear boundary.
It's okay to be supportive, but if you feel that it's overwhelming,
that it's taking you under, and you're starting to feel down on yourself...
That's where we have to be careful. That means, we have a diffused boundary.
We're just letting things roll in, we're not protecting ourselves.
But giving them the tips and the hints to reach out, telling them to call their
therapist, check in on them.. Shoot them a tweet like
'hey I'm thinking about you', you know, things like that.
But we need to be protective.
We're all struggling, we all have hard times and bad days.
So we'll be there for them, but I don't want you to get overwhelmed either.
And you can let me know about it.
I can reach out to them; I'd be happy to do that.
If you're worried about somebody, let me know.
If they're following me on twitter I can direct message them.
I won't do anything to embarrass them, I won't post anything publically,
but I'll try to get in touch with them on a private level.
So you can always let me know.
I hope that kind of clears up some of the worries and the scary thoughts and
the feelings of overwhelm we get when it comes to stuff like this..
and the fear to talk about it, because the last thing I want you to do
is to ever feel like there's something you can't talk to me about,
or you can't post about. It's all okay. We're working on this together.
We've all had hard times like that, right?
We've all felt like there's no light at the end of the tunnel.
'I don't know what to do anymore'
We've all had that feeling, at the end of our rope.
But we're here, we're creating a community to help and support each other.
So don't forget to subscribe to my videos,
like I say every week, I'm going to post something new,
and you'll hear about it right away, and then you can know when to comment.
Let me know, 'hey, anymore information on this, that wasn't enough, it wasn't clear'
Things like that.
Also, check me out on twitter.
I also have my website, www.katimorton.com,
You can post your venting, journals about what you're going through, art you've done.
Things like that.
It's a great community, to help support recovery.
So that's what the topic was today.
If there's any questions, or if you feel like I didn't address something
or you don't agree, let me know.
But we'll just keep working on this.
We'll keep talking about this, keep getting healthier
and working towards a healthy mind and a healthy body.
Subtitles by the Amara.org community