Superhero Is Here! British Woman Saves A Man From Suicidal Thoughts: "He Was In A Really Bad State"
REAL LIFE
Superhero Is Here! British Woman Saves A Man From Suicidal Thoughts: "He Was In A Really Bad State"
One of the ‘suicide spot’ is deemed to be railway stations. There’s a vast amount of public suicide fatalities.
In 2016-2017, the study estimated 306 deaths, down by 2.2% in the last year. Just imagine: 273 (!) of them are suicide or attempted suicide fatalities.
Superhero
Gillian Assor, a British woman, was outing with her dog when suddenly she heard someone’s cry and loud voices. She didn’t know what it was and what she should have done, but she still approached this area.
Mrs. Assor came to him calmly and asked if he was OK. A man, hysterically crying, answered negatively, Gillian remembers:
I could see that he was in a really bad state. He was angry, but he was crying as well.
Jillian was scared, but she wanted to help him. Her daughter suffered from anxiety, and that’s why ‘hero’ knew how to talk to a vulnerable man. She began asking basic questions to calm him down.
In the end, the superwoman knew him out – his name was Tommy Beddard, 23 y.o. There were sitting on the bridge: Jillian on one side, her dog in the middle, and Tommy on the other side. She tried to reassure him in whatever he was going to do.
Jillian asked Tommy to call parents and waited 25 minutes until they took him away.
One Sunday morning, the husband of superwoman showed the picture on Facebook with her, the pet, and Tommy. She was shocked and refused to be a ‘hero’:
I thought it’s not about me and it shouldn’t be about me. It was about him.
After talking to Tommy, they decided to meet later that day. He was approaching her with opened arms and clung for more than a minute repeating over and over again:
You saved my life. You saved my life.
Bless you, Jillian! You’re a true example of how to be a hero in the violent world!
What to do in such situations
Gillian Assor knew how to treat and what to say to Tommy, a person with suicidal thoughts.
Just try to be sympathetic and calm so that a person will lean to you. Here are some phrases you can use:
- “I’m so glad you told me that you’re thinking of suicide.” Don’t freak out and put anger; just hear him/her out.
- "I’m sad you’re hurting like this.”
- “What’s going on that makes you want to die?” Try to use psychological approaches to make a person open up to you.
- “What can I do to help?”
- “I care about you, and I would be so sad if you died by suicide.”
- “I hope you’ll keep talking to me about your thoughts of suicide.”
- "Help is available." By this phrase, you can offer own ‘minor’ help and encourage to address higher agency.
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We all can become heroes! It just needs to put fear aside and give our heart to be bright!