“It definitely saved my life, just telling people”: Experiences of northern individuals seeking support for suicidal ideation

Suicide in northern British Columbia [BC] is an understudied but prominent health concern. This study aimed to understand the individual experiences of those seeking support for suicidal ideation in northern BC and, specifically, sought to understand what responses are perceived as helpful and not helpful. Using interpretative phenomenological analysis, five semi-structured interviews were conducted, resulting in four main themes found across each interview, each with two sub-themes. These four themes include: 1) Death Avoidance, where participants discussed how death and suicide were avoided, missed, dismissed, and hidden by themselves and others as well as the widespread silence around mental health and suicide in communities; 2) Power and Powerlessness, which describes the power that suicide held over the participants and their attempts at reclaiming some of that power; 3) Meaning and Meaninglessness, which explores the search for purpose and meaning each participant underwent; and 4) Connection and Safety, which discusses the complex interactions between connection and disconnection, and the ways that felt sense of safety, or the lack of, impacted connection and suicide. This study supports existing literature that describes the importance of safe and validating connections that allow for options, choice, and exploration of meaning. Moving forward, collaborating with individuals considering suicide in a trauma-informed manner that emphasizes respect, validation, power, and meaning is recommended.