cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/35965987
this is a coworker.
to me a clear no, this person jokes about it and smiles. I can share her frustration with stupid job tasks, demanding clients, or having to get up too early, commute… I find her genuine and full of energy, I like working with her, she’s sincere. I like that in people, she likes to help.
However, other 2 female colleagues have the opposite point of view: there is something that troubles her because she constantly jokes about death, killing herself due to some clients, waking up early…
We all agree she is so full of energy, my colleagues say she jokes about it constantly. I hear her joking about once or twice a day.
Am I being naive?
I find it helpful to think of it like emotional asthma. She’s a little wheezy right now. She should probably take things a little easier. She might need a puff of her “inhaler” (although if she does have rescue meds for mental health it’s probably a pill) but ultimately that’s her private business. She’s not doing her best but that also doesn’t necessarily mean she needs to be committed or even necessarily inpatient. Suicidal ideation can absolutely be managed outpatient in a lot of cases as long as there’s no active plan / intent and there’s a solid safety plan in place.
In fact if you’re interested in learning more about safety planning and other things you can personally do to manage your own mental health you should come join us over at [email protected] We also have a wiki that specifically includes a page on safety planning!