[splitimage]

I was having a nice weekend until I logged onto this other board that I admin. I had a pm waiting for me from one of our members. I don't know why she picked me to reach out to, since our interaction has been minimal. She told me that she was really low and wanted to OD.

I got the message 5 hours after she posted it, so I'm freaking out that maybe she already has, and I don't know anything about her IRL so there's nothing I can really do to help the situation.

I pm'd her back saying that OD'ing wasn't a solution, that no matter how bad things seem now they can get better and to call a crisis line or get to an er if things got really bad. What else could i do?

Thank heaven's I got a message from her this morning saying she'd called a crisis line and was feeling a bit better.

Part of me is reallly worried about her, and part of me is really pissed off at her, since there was nothing I could do to really help her, and it's a self injury support board, not a general mental health forum, and it made me worry about her.

I really don't know how professional counsellors manage to remain detached from stuff like this.

--splitimage

[(JD)]

Professionals are trained to realize what they can do something about and what they can't. They learn their own limitations, and what is "their best" in any given situation, hopefully. People have the ultimate decision. If someone has their mind made up, there's a chance you can change it, give them enough hope to get through the night, but not always.

Most people don't want to end their life, they want to end their life as it is, and have a better one.

[TaintedGoth1]

You have access to her IP address don't you? Well you could look up her IP address and call the local authorities or send them an email explaining that you were concerned about her well-being.

I know I've done that in the past with some boards that I helped Admin with.