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Absolutely DO Call A Suicide Hotline If You Need To

Sarah McManus MSc
4 min readJan 18, 2022

Everyone’s experience is different and valid, but if you need to talk, pick up the phone

Photo by Priscilla Du Preez on Unsplash

So I just read a certain controversial article here on Medium in which a writer flat-out said that people shouldn’t call suicide hotlines. That was basically the headline, just a command to not call the hotlines. I clicked and went into it thinking there would be a twist, that it might be one of that satirical kind of posts along the lines of ‘Don’t call, they might help you’ or something.

It wasn’t.

The author themselves labeled it as ‘controversial’ but myself and several commenters describe it more accurately as dangerous. I’m not going to link to it or name the author because honestly, I don’t want to give them any more views or engagement than they’ve already had. They had a bad experience — of which I’m pretty sure they’ve withheld some key details — and think that makes it OK to put other vulnerable people in danger.

An Uphill Struggle

When you’re feeling at your absolute lowest, the last thing you want to do is pick up the phone and tell a stranger about it. Unfortunately, it’s actually one of the best things that you can do.

Talking, being listened to, really being heard has huge benefits for our mental and physical health. Some of us…

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Sarah McManus MSc
Sarah McManus MSc

Written by Sarah McManus MSc

Sarah is a UK-based writer with an MSc in Psychology. She writes about mental health & Neurodiversity. She is also the Owner and Editor of The Blade & Beyond.

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