Suicidal teen

[[Admin] osborn4]

This situation requires some discretion, so I will not be using names.

My son, 19, college freshman, got a text last night, 9:30-10ish, from his best friend, 18, h.s. senior.

"I'm sorry. The pain to to great. I can't take it anymore. Goodbye."

My son immediately called him and drove out to talk to him directly.

When he got there, his friend would not put his hood down from his sweatshirt and wouldn't look my son in the eye and just kept saying, "Dude. You need to just leave. Seriously."

This young man had been dating the same girl for several years and this Christmas, they got engaged. She had broken up with him.

My son would not "just leave" and finally got his friend to talk to one of our pastors on the phone. This pastor has no experience with suicide counselling, but is a real prayer warrior. The pastor got the young man to promise to talk to him tomorrow.

My wife called a friend of hers, who used to live locally and is a trained counselor. Her friend suggested the name of one of the volunteer youth leaders, a seminary student who has had some experiences in situations like these.

So my wife called the pastor, who is going to talk to this volunteer to see if he has any kind of relationship with this young man to talk to him, separately, together, whatever works.

She also tried to call the young man's mother, but she didn't pick up and her voice mail was filled. Not sure what's up there, either.

Please pray!

• That the young man didn't do anything drastic last night after my son left.
• That, between the pastor, the volunteer and my son, they can talk to him further.
• That they can find him the help that he really needs.
• That my sons can do what they need to get done and not dwell on this situation other than in prayer.

Thank you.

[[Director] Joseph B]

I'll keep him in prayer, let us know how things progress.

[Paris MkVI]

I will keep him in prayer for sure.

The text was a cry for help. If he really wanted to end his life, he would have done so.

If I am ever faced with such a situation, I will also do what you did, getting a pastor involved, etc. I think I will also likely call the police. A person at risk should not be left alone. Even if it means the police are forced to take him to the hospital for observation, that is just what has to be done.

I will keep him - and all of you - in prayer!

[[Admin] osborn4]

Originally Posted by Paris MkVI

The text was a cry for help. If he really wanted to end his life, he would have done so.

Agreed. We tried to comfort our boys somewhat with that.

We also thought that perhaps our son should have tried to stay the night. But I think he did pretty well, over all, for a 19 year old in that situation.

Since I've not heard anything yet, I'm guessing nothing bad happened last night.

Still plenty of prayers needed as things move (hopefully) forward.

Thanks.

[frank]

Joel, your son and family did GREAT. The text was a call for help, but now he needs to know he's cared about. People can't say "that was a dumb thing you did", but there are proper ways to work through this. Do tell your family that it's OK to call 911 if they're fearful he'll hurt himself, better to have him torqued off at them than dead. Also, here's a link to a local agency with some good guidelines on this: http://www.spsfv.org/11301/index.html and a link to more good info: http://www.livingworks.net/LW_AtRsk.php

We're seeing an increase in "calls for help" at our church from all ages. Everyone needs to be vigilant, connected, communicating.

The young man and your family are in my prayers.

[tedanderson]

The text was a cry for help. If he really wanted to end his life, he would have done so.

It's not quite that easy. Your son, the pastor, and everyone else who has been talking to him are giving him plenty of time to think about and second guess his decision and thus, he will eventually lose his nerve and put more of his focus on working out his problems.

I also will be praying.

[Gracetech]

Prayin'

crt

[[Admin] osborn4]

Well, the young man did meet with the pastor at 11:00 am today and then had lunch with my son. He seems to be in a much better place.

The pastor was also able to get ahold of the young man's father, so the family knows what happened/is going on.

We all know there is still a road to travel here, but things are looking better than they did at midnight last night.

Thank you all for your prayers so far. Feel free to continue praying.