If someone really needs help, I think allowing the conversations to stay on the public forum, giving some encouraging words, and offering information/links on professional resources is a great way to be helpful and supportive (telephone hotlines, websites, government or non-profit organizations that provide free therapy, etc). Offering a public post that lets the OP know that their post is being read and that you care about their situation is wonderful. Your desire to help is a good quality to have. I think you could do a wonderful job in one of the helping professions when you have undergone training, education, and supervision. You sound like you have a bright future ahead of you. In the meantime, I think it's important not to become too involved in "helping" someone with serious challenges like sui thoughts, si, ed, personality disorders, etc when you have not undergone any training to do so. Even when we have the best of intentions and just want to show that we care, if we aren't properly trained, we can unknowingly do a lot of harm. I think what's great about PC is that it is a collaborative, peer support system. There aren't one group of "helpers" and one group of people who get helped. We're all peers. We all support one another, and we all get supported by one another. By posting and getting a wide variety of responses, we can get different perspectives, take what might be helpful, and leave behind what is not. It's that variety of perspectives that I really appreciate. I think that helps to prevent the kind of co-dependent relationships that might evolve if we were relying on one person for caring and support. It also prevents us from taking any one person's opinion too seriously, and perhaps using it in place of the opinion of a qualified professional. The other great thing about this forum is that virtually all of us are or have been in therapy, so we have professional support and can use this forum to reinforce the work we are doing with our therapists (and not use the forum to replace professional guidance). Since most of us are not trained as therapists, we have the ability to help to some extent, but we also recognize our own limitations and know when to say "you should really talk to your T about that" or "if you don't feel safe right now, maybe you should go inpatient." Sometimes the best way to help others is to know when you're in over your head and help someone get the courage to seek out a professional who can take it from there.