The more time I spend in suicide prevention the more convinced I become of a simple fact.

As complex as the space can be, as challenging and varied, as different from one call to the next, there’s one thing I set my sights on each and every call.

As crisis supporters it’s our role to help label the unspoken.

What does it mean to label the unspoken?

All crises are underscored by a tension between what we want versus what we have.

As someone in desperate need of support they may want a specific situation or outcome, maybe they want their parents to stay together, maybe they want their boss to stop bullying them, maybe they want to simply feel like they can get up out of bed without it being an ordeal.

The tricky part comes when, as crisis supporters, our own wants remain unlabeled.

The tension of unspoken words shows up for helpers too!

As a helper, we have our own desires.

We wouldn’t be there if we didn’t want to help in one way or another. Navigating which of these desires helps us, and which hurts us, makes up a huge part of the journey. It’s by labeling our desires and pinning a description to them that we get to bring them into the light, examine how helpful they are, and evolve our practice.

Next issue I’ll dive in with a few examples of what this has looked like for me over the years.