First if all there is no immediate threat, and I’m aware of my limited capacity given that I am not a mental health professional.

There is a possible situation where a friend of mine in another city borough may attempt suicide at some point in the future. I do not have their family contacts, or share any mutual contacts who would be able to help, however I do know the person’s address and that they have a support team (although no real details on that front either).

If I suspect a suicide attempt, who should I contact? My initial instinct is the emergency services, but I feel the location difference might complicate matters.

Google isn’t really helping that much so I’m hoping you kind folks might be able to point me in the right direction.

Again, I know my powers are limited and I am at peace with that, but every little helps I suppose.

8 comments

  2. If it’s an emergency contact the police, we had a guy at 2am our time saying he took loads of pills and drank loads of alcohol. He was online with our friends in America. One of them got the number for the local police in the UK. 30 minutes later they booted down his door and took him to hospital.

    Pumped his stomach and I found out the next morning, if he weren’t online it would have been a different scenario.

  3. If you have a genuine concern for someone’s safety you would call 999 and explain the situation and they *should* put you through to the correct control room.

    But be warned, if the situation is not real things may come back on you.

    Also, if the person in question feels they are being harassed that can also come back on you.

  4. I live in Wigan and once had a friend in a village in Yorkshire pissed off her head with a knife threatening to kill herself. I phoned 999 and asked GMP to put me through to or pass on to West Yorkshire Police what’s happening (I had her address and they actually put me through to West Yorkshire Police). The police arrived at hers in less than half an hour and she fell out with me for a week lol. It’s pretty easy to do. Just know their address.

    Edit: just realised I left out a crucial detail as to why I called the Police and not Ambulance. Knife out and little kids in the house. The Police would have automatically gotten an Ambulance too I assume. If she had overdosed it would have been Ambulance not the Police.

  5. I answer 999 calls for the coastguard. If they’re just depressed and not actually about to kill themselves, there probably not a lot the emergency services can do right now.

    If your friend has literally told you that they’re about to do something dangerous then you can contact the ambulance service with as much detail as you have got. They’ll inform the police for assistance. If your friend says they’re going to drown themselves in the sea, jump off a cliff etc, then you can contact the coastguard as the first point of call and we will then call the ambulance and police for assistance.

    If you live in the same county then the ambulance service should be the same as they seem to follow county borders. If you live in different counties then when you dial 999 you can say to the operator that the casualty is in xxxx city, can I be connected to the ambulance service that covers that city. And they should be able to do that for you. If it’s the coastguard then it doesn’t really matter as we are all on one system, as soon as we create and position an incident, anyone working for the area that incident is in, will see it on their screen. Also we have some random looking boundaries between our areas.

  6. Police obv if it’s imminent… ask for a welfare check – but 999 isn’t Nationally linked (!) so you may get shovelled around a bit to get to the right local police force but you’ll get there in the end… have full addresses and postcodes to hand etc

    Try to make contact with their support team and develop a link there for when you need it

  8. As others have said, if you are worried about their immediate safety, call 999 and talk to the police. The distance won’t make a difference as long as you know their address.
    If it’s a situation where you are hoping someone can have a pre-emptive conversation, and you know who their GP is, try contacting them and explaining your concerns. Obviously the GP won’t be able to share any of your friends details with you, but they may be able to make contact with your friend.
    If your friend is employed, it might be worth looking on the company’s website to see if they have mental health first aiders or a wellbeing team – it might be worth emailing them asking them to have a chat with your friend.
    Have you spoken to your friend about how they are feeling? Asking someone if they are suicidal is daunting but it won’t make the situation worse. It may well help though. There are lots of free resources on the Internet that give you suggestions on how to talk to someone who is feeling suicidal. I can pass on some links and advice if it would be helpful.

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