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Hey, shortwivers, Emily Kwong here, and today we are talking about how to help someone you love who is in a suicidal crisis.

With the NPR Health correspondent who covers mental health, Ritu Chatterjee.

Hey, Ritu.

Hi, Emily.

Last time we talked about this, we focused on how to help those who are at risk. You offered a lot of practical advice, how to develop a safety plan, how to identify the warning signs. It was a really

rich, thorough conversation we had. That's right. And today we're adding yet another layer to that topic. I'm ready.

And that is what is needed emotionally from someone who is caring for a person in suicidal

crisis. So today we're focusing on the caregivers. That's right. Caregivers like Joe Lambert in London.

So I've been an unpaid, full-time unpaid carer for loved ones in a

suicidal crisis continuously for the last eight years. And actually, both my loved ones have survived

and are thriving now. Eight years ago, Joe first learned that someone she loves was feeling suicidal.

And as she started to learn how to care for them, she made a promise to the universe.

If I survive this, I will do something to change this so that people are not powerless watching a loved one suffer like this.

So a couple of years ago, Joe used her experiences to write a poem.

It's about what someone in suicidal crisis needs to get through that crisis safely.

And it's a message she wished everyone could hear in order to support a loved one who's struggling.

Almost like what she wishes every caregiver knew.

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