"Don’t spend more than a few days looking for providers—or a few hours, if the person has a suicide plan or is extremely upset. Instead, with their permission, take the suicidal person immediately to an emergency room."

Do get psychiatric help. This is very unlikely to be something you can resolve alone or with nonprofessional help. The suicidal person may need medication and/or hospitalization immediately, and certainly needs skilled advice.

get psychiatric help. This is very unlikely to be something you can resolve alone or with nonprofessional help. The suicidal person may need medication and/or hospitalization immediately, and certainly needs skilled advice. Do ask your insurance company for a list of in-plan providers, but be careful about allowing them to choose a therapist. (The insurance company may offer this if you don’t have a primary care physician.) They are likely to choose the cheapest possible alternative, which may be someone without comprehensive training.

Sites such as Psychology Today's Find a Therapist, HelpPRO's Therapist Finder, and GoodTherapy.org's Find the Right Therapist allow you to search for care providers and to narrow your search by insurance company and location.

At certain times of the year psychologists and psychiatrists tend to be booked up or on vacation. There are also some therapists who refuse to work with suicidal people. Don’t spend more than a few days looking for providers—or a few hours, if the person has a suicide plan or is extremely upset. Instead, with their permission, take the suicidal person immediately to an emergency room . This will ensure that they will be able to talk to a professional right away and will have access to referrals. If the person is in immediate danger of harming themselves, use the words “acutely suicidal” or “having active suicidal thoughts” when you check in .

. This will ensure that they will be able to talk to a professional right away and will have access to referrals. . Be cautious about taking advice from friends or others who have not personally met the suicidal person. Don’t be overly perfectionistic about care providers, but do terminate relationships with therapists who are clearly not good matches. Many people may want to help, but unless they are professionals and have met and talked with the suicidal person, their advice is likely to be at best generic and at worst biased. It’s also necessary that the suicidal person trust the therapist, so while it’s not helpful to undermine the therapist, if attempts at resolving personality conflicts fail, take them seriously and find another therapist.

Family members are the constant throughout a patient’s journey through the medical care system. Touching base with therapists and new caregivers at hospitals or outpatient programs allows parents or others to ensure that key information is accurately conveyed from one person to the next, and helps the family to stay informed. As you do so, keep in mind the patient’s right to privacy and be responsive if he or she needs you to step back.

Continuing our posts on suicide awareness, this is the fourth of our series. The previous first second , and third parts are well worth the read if you haven't already. Now, on to what you're here to see...The first phase of an existential crisis can be especially hard because of the difficulty of finding proper medical care. Here are a few tips about this:Tapir Signal is looking for volunteers in a variety of areas including housing, employment, and other practical concerns as well as LGBT issues and suicide awareness. Suicide awareness volunteers must be 21 or older. They should be mental health practitioners and/or have personal or close family experience with suicide.If you are in need of help, you can reach us here If you are feeling suicidal, please call the National Suicide Hotline at 1-800-273-8255 or 1-800-784-2433 (outside the US, these calls are free via Skype).If you are LGBT+ and need to talk, please contact the LGBT National Hotline at 1-888-843-4564 or find them online here Know you are safe and among friends and we will do whatever we can to help.Lastly, if you would like to be involved or volunteer, you can reach out to us here