DOs :

• Make yourself available and create a trusting atmosphere while taking care to impose necessary limits (concerning your availability, the confidentiality of what is said, what you can do, etc.).
• Invite the person to tell you what he or she is living through and what he or
  she feels.
• Openly state your fears (do not hesitate to ask if the person has thought about suicide!), and agree to talk about the person's possible suicidal desires (discuss death, pain, suffering). Assess the risks of an imminent suicide attempt.
• Ask :
  - If the person has ever thought about suicide? if yes
  - Has he or she thought about how to go about killing himself or herself? if yes
  - Has he or she already made a plan to kill himself or herself?
  
  IF YES, REMEMBER THAT IT IS YOUR DUTY TO HELP A PERSON IN DANGER! You must do everything possible to prevent the plan from being carried out: warn those close to the person; ensure that the person is never alone; keep close to the person; take away the person's medication, weapons, car keys, etc., using force if necessary. You may also need to contact a doctor or the closest emergency centre.

If the suicide plan has not yet been defined:

• Insist that suicide is not the only solution to a problem: far from aspiring to an act of bravery or a philosophical choice, young people kill themselves because they imagine that it is their only option at a given moment.
• Help the person to find other solutions (individuals, activities, organisations, etc.) which could help him or her to get over the suicidal crisis, but be sensitive to the person's capabilities and pace.
• Stress the irreversible nature of death: young people sometimes die because they want to momentarily escape from their difficulties, or else make a point, or else test the reaction of others to their death. But death is final, a one-way journey.
• Clearly state that it is possible to obtain desired changes using solutions other than suicide, and that it is important not to keep one's problems to oneself.
• Before raising a possible solution, discuss the different options the person has already tried to find help. The person can then distinguish what has been helpful from what has been unhelpful.
• Keeping in touch with a suicidal person is a delicate matter. Use the knowledge of specialists who can help you to help others! A basic rule is never to keep your preoccupations concerning a suicidal person to yourself. You can seek help from the Unit for the study and prevention of suicide : tel 022 382 42 42 -  7/7).

DON'Ts:

• Don't trivialise the situation! Suicidal words should always be taken
  seriously!
• Don't just "wait for the phase to pass".
• Don't judge, ridicule or humiliate the person.
• Don't give simplistic or irrelevant advice, such as: "Stop thinking about it",
• Get a grip on yourself", "Do some sport", etc
• Never say "It'll get better tomorrow" as a way to end all further discussion
  on the subject.
• Never say: "You've got everything going for you", "You've got nothing to complain about", "Think about all those people in the world who are really suffering".
• Do not give examples of what has happened to you or to others, unlessthe suicidal person has asked to hear about these.
• Never be an accomplice to a person's troubled behaviour or suicidal plans(eg. covering up absences from school or from home; filling in for the person without explaining why)
• Never be trapped by a code of secrecy! The duty to help a person in danger justifies all steps you may take to prevent the suicide of this person.
• Never trust in your ability to handle the situation single-handedly: you cannot do everything alone, you cannot always be available and you cannot promise to keep someone's secret if his or her life is in danger!!
• Don't yield to blackmail!
• Never challenge a suicidal person to act on his or her word.

YOU ARE NEVER RESPONSIBLE FOR SOMEONE ELSE'S SUICIDAL ACTS.